A Protector Until The End
by TheTechnoMage
Summary: He'd always protect what he cared about. No matter how the things he cared about changed. No matter whether he had the power to protect them, he'd do it any way. Discontinued - tremendous apologies. AN in final chapter.
1. I Get Expelled and Leave The Country

**Well, I'm probably a dumbass. Yep, that's how I'm starting this story. So I once said many times I don't intend to be someone who runs loads of stories at once, and inevitably isn't able to finish any of them and gives up. I still keep to that promise.**

 **Where I diverge from it, however, is right here. So I read all the PJO books (at current time I'm hoping to get Heroes of Olympus soon) and fell in love with them and the writing style used by Rick Riordan.**

 **Then my brain did the logical thing and started creating plot ideas and ways to cross it over with Bleach. Because that's how my brain functions.**

 **For the record, those who are worried about it, To Shatter Fate will not be affected by this, I've just had little inspiration to write recently and PJO is helping me by giving me something to write about.**

 **Anyway, for reference, I'm trying to somewhat adapt my own version of Riordan's writing style for this story, which is why it's gonna be first person from Ichigo's POV.**

 **Other than that, you'll just have to keep reading :P**

* * *

 **A Protector Until The End: Chapter 1: I Get Expelled And Leave The Country**

* * *

"Expelled?" I questioned in disbelief, my voice almost silenced by my shock. I didn't something like that would lead to this.

"I'm sorry Ichigo, but between your falling grades and prior incidents involving skipping classes and other fights on school grounds, something like the fight last week was bound to push it over the edge" Ochi-Sensei replied. I could see the pity in her eyes. She'd been my teacher since I'd started at Karakura High, so she'd noticed better than any other faculty in the school when I started _skipping_ classes and when my grades started falling.

 **Name : Ichigo Kurosaki**

"What about Uryu? He shouldn't be punished because those guys mistook him for me" I asked. Uryu might've been stuck up but he was still my friend, 'Quincy Pride' or not, and I always looked out for my friends.

"Luckily this is a first for Mr. Ishida and because of his consistently exemplary grades he's been let off for this" Mrs. Ochi responded. I guess I couldn't call her Sensei if I wasn't going to be at this school any more.

 **Age : 17**

"As for your grades, you've been suffering ever since your long streak of bathroom breaks and family emergencies. They were getting so bad I was planning on talking to you about it but when they stopped I thought things might return to normal, but they didn't. Instead while you were in my classes you seemed to be anywhere but" The way she looked at me showed she cared, like she did for all of her students. She even put up with Keigo's crap for crying out loud. She always knew what was troubling them when she looked at them and she tried her best to help, even if it wasn't directly.

She couldn't do that with me. She couldn't bring back the powers I longed for, the powers I wanted to use to protect others. She couldn't erase the feeling of uselessness I felt knowing that even without my powers people were being protected, like my sacrifices meant nothing.

She couldn't stop the nightmares.

I stood up from my seat. "Thanks for everything, Mrs. Ochi" I slung my bag over my shoulder before turning to leave the office. Maybe the principle was scared of me because I looked like a thug or something (or maybe it had something to do with the cause of my expulsion being an entire group of downed thugs from another school while it hadn't taken much effort on my part). Either way I'd had to be told by my homeroom teacher that I'd been expelled, didn't matter who told me anyway. Either way, it'd just happened.

Mrs. Ochi grabbed my wrist before I walked out of the room, her last request to me as a student "I think you should take a break, Ichigo. I know things aren't right but I believe you need time to adjust to whatever's changed since seventeen months ago, then maybe you can come back to the world where the rest of us are" Her phrasing caught me off guard, but I guessed it was just an expression for how often I spent daydreaming and distracted.

I thought she was probably right, so I humoured her request "Okay… Ochi-Sensei" Perhaps it meant something to her that I'd addressed her as my teacher for the last time, but she smiled in earnest while I left the classroom, leaving Karakura High School grounds for what would likely be the last time, and that wasn't because summer break would be starting soon.

 **Occupation : Student at Karakura High School (Former)**

 **Substitute Shinigami (Former)**

* * *

 **A Protector Until The End**

* * *

"Expelled?! No son of mine should be expelled from school!" Even now I'm suppressing a groan at this. Leaving the school grounds I hadn't acknowledged how Dad would react until I stepped through the front door and walked into the living room.

And to think he'd _almost_ got me that time.

Perhaps his outrage at my expulsion would be easier to take seriously had he not been forced to sit on the couch with an ice-pack on his newly bruised foot.

Serves the old man right for trying to jump and kick me when I could simply duck and watch his foot sail into the wall, like I had done several minutes prior.

Though unfortunately my smug attitude at his current predicament didn't kick in at the time, so instead my angry response was "So if I'm meant to stick up for people being bullied and I'm meant to fight back when somebody picks a fight with me, as well as having to protect Pluses from being devoured by Hollows, but I can't get expelled when all of that takes up school time, what am I supposed to do!?"

My father studied me from that response. Perhaps he'd realised then that all those actions had led to this. Subsequently he seemed to phase out of his usual 'Insane Father' mode and into 'Dad the Death God' mode.

"Huh, I guess so. What school you go to doesn't matter anyway. Education is education wherever you go. So you got any ideas where you wanna go? There's that other high school across town, though I'd guess you already know a few students from there" he was, of course, referring to the same school attended by the group of dumbasses whose asses I'd kicked in the first place.

"I'm not thinking about school, Dad. I'm thinking I need a break" I responded, my depressed mood reflecting in my voice.

He looked at me once more, responding "A break from what, exactly? Girl troubl-." My pointed glare seemed to cut that statement off, temporarily halting the reappearance of 'Insane Father'.

"A break from all of this" I responded, my hands clasped together under my chin in thought of all the actions and choices I'd made since first gaining my Shinigami powers, all the way up to when I chose to give them away.

When I'd thrown away part of myself to defeat a madman.

Perhaps inside my soul, the rain had finally turned into a typhoon that would wipe away the entire city. It'd probably be silent, reflecting the emptiness left by the loss of my would-be eternal companions.

I say companions purely because Zangetsu and the Hollow both represented my power, apart from that the soulless bastard was a complete pain.

Mostly a pain in the chest area, where a sword always seemed to end up when he was involved.

"This meaning?" Dad questioned, and I guessed I'd have to explain it, or maybe he just wanted to hear me say it aloud and acknowledge it.

"A break from school, a break from home, a break from my friends" My list would've continued, but Dad just held up his hand and waited for me to figure out my own answer, and after a minute of silence I finished "A break from everything that reminds me what I'm not".

"A gap year, then? I've got resourceful friends who owe me a few favours. Anywhere in particular you'd want to go?" He was smirking to himself, proud he'd finally figured out what to do to try and help me after my over-a-year of moping and being depressed.

I think he'd realised around the One-Year-Since-I-Lost-My-Powers mark that this wouldn't heal with time. I had no doubt he'd liken this to the only other _two_ times I'd been that low.

This was coping with _loss_ , not _death_. Perhaps one would prevail as more painful than the other.

After a moment of thought, I'd decided (ignoring the blatant obviousness that 'Resourceful Friends' meant Kisuke Urahara without a doubt) and I responded "Anywhere in the world, just _not here_ "

His brows knitted in thought at that. I'd just given my crazy old man a chance to send me anywhere in the world. He'd better not give me reason to kill him again when I came back, even if it took longer than a year. We both knew how to give each other time and space, and I got the feeling that my perception of a year could slow as much as I needed it to so I could figure everything out before coming back.

On that thought, I chose to go upstairs and leave him to his own thoughts.

* * *

 **A Protector Until The End**

* * *

Two weeks later and I was at an airport, ready to board the next plane to I-didn't-care-where. I'd packed pretty light: clothes, cash, the bare necessities and not much else. I'd completely refused to bring any reminders of what I was leaving behind.

I was wearing black jeans and boots with a white shirt and a black hoodie thrown on top. I wasn't dressing to impress, I was dressing for hours of air travel.

"Are you sure you have to go?" Yuzu asked once more. I'd never gone away for prolonged amounts of time before. I repressed the thought that my longest trip away from family was the Winter War.

"It'll be good for me, don't worry, I'll bring souvenirs" I smiled fondly at my younger sister. She'd been an anchor for the family ever since Mom died. For her, watching me leave might've felt like I wasn't coming back.

"Don't worry about it, Yuzu. He's big enough, tough enough and ugly enough to fend for himself wherever he goes" Karin responded, and I smiled at her before realising her final comment.

"Hey what do you mean ugly enough!?" I questioned in embarrassed outrage.

"Seventeen-And-He-Still-Hasn't-Had-A-Girlfriend" Karin coughed each word into her hand, and heat rose to my face while Dad chuckled with Yuzu about the joke.

The joking moment ended when my sister ran to me, encircling me in a hug "Just make sure to come back eventually, alright?" She was worried. Yuzu had only heard about what had happened to me but Karin had actually glimpsed the levels of power I'd fought against. Yuzu feared for my safety and health but Karin feared because she could still see the things that had almost taken my life repeatedly throughout that time.

"It's a deal" I responded, returning the hug when Yuzu joined her.

Bless little sisters sometimes; they at least know how to get out of a sombre mood. Karin continued "What's the deal? That you'll come back or that you'll get a girlfriend?"

Even with the heat in my face (seventeen months and I'm still a goddamn prude) I responded jokingly "The deal was for the first one, the second one's a tossup"

Then I glimpsed the last possible person I'd wanted to see before leaving.

After a conversation away from us, out of earshot, my Dad returned walking alongside my old teacher.

It wasn't that I held anything against Kisuke, but he was probably the only person smart enough to get my powers back and he hadn't done anything for the past seventeen months. It was probably just switching days where I'd find something or someone else to blame for my powerlessness.

"Kurosaki-san" The Geta wearing shop-owner greeted, though even his usual humorous tone and grin hidden behind a fan were gone.

"Ichigo" Dad spoke addressing me, his mood from earlier in the day (insane and saddened that 'one of his birds was leaving the nest' which was most likely responded with 'It was your idea, you crazy old man!') was instead replaced with the expression of utter seriousness, like he was standing there about to ask if I was going to come with him to face Aizen again.

In his hand, he held out a box. It was small, probably about the size of a shoebox and seemingly made of wood, locked by key and looking like it definitely had some kind of seal involving intricate Kido or some crap like that. He held the box out to me, saying "You once told me you'd be willing to wait and I'd tell you everything when the time was right for me. I don't know what's going to come your way where you're going but this'll give you the few answers I can offer. The rest will be up to you" he placed the box in my hand and placed the key on a chain around my neck.

I raised the box to look at it, and then lifted the key towards the lock. Dad's voice stopped me, saying "I'd ask you wait until you get where you're going if you must open it so soon. Just know I'll always be proud of what you've achieved" his turn finished, he stepped back and allowed Kisuke to step forward.

"Urahara-san" I acknowledged his presence, though perhaps the fact I wasn't ecstatic to see him was reflected in my voice that made him lower his eyes in shame.

"Ichigo, I'm sorry" he began, and from those words alone I felt shame for putting this on him. He'd had enough to blame himself for before, though I didn't want to think about any of them because all they'd do was remind me what I'd lost.

We locked eyes and understanding seemed to pass into his, like he knew what I was thinking, and he elaborated "I'm sorry for all you've had to do and endure because of my mistakes. You don't yet know how deep they run and all I can do is accept blame for all that's befallen you. But I'm not here to talk about that, I'm here to give you this" he gestured to a small suitcase, and I briefly wondered how much of its contents were explosive and/or likely to kill me.

"Ichigo" He continued "I'm sorry for actions I've committed to protect you in the past. The contents of this suitcase will hardly repay you for that, but they'll serve as a good contingency plan should anything happen" contingency plan? Where were they sending me, the airline straight into the nearest convenient Garganta?

"What do you mean 'actions you've committed to protect me'? What aren't you telling me?" I questioned. What were they throwing me into?

"Better if you don't find out" Dad responded, pulling me into a hug. He'd smelled like cigarettes, and he only ever smoked them at Mom's grave or when he was worried.

That seemed to signal for Kisuke's departure, though as he left he turned to me "Ichigo, just remember. When you attack, you cut. When you dodge an attack, you don't let it hit you. And when you protect someone…"

"I don't let them die" I responded, continuing "Thanks, Getaboushi"

That seemed to be enough for the 'humble candy store owner' as he walked into the buzzing crowds of the airport, and when someone walked passed him, he vanished into the crowd.

"Well, it looks like it's time to go" Dad said, before dropping a pair of keys into my hand "You know the address"

The keys looked familiar, like I'd seen them before, but I had no idea where he was talking about, though knowing him he'd be right and I'd know where the keys were for when I needed to.

I gave my family one last hug before turning to leave, seeing them watch my form retreat further into the airport.

Then my rare sense of humour kicked in and I decided to get one back at Karin for her earlier jokes, and mine seemed to work just as well seeing how much she hung out with a certain Chibi-Taichou "And Karin" I began, making her turn towards me before I shouted something that would publicly mortify her (and would get me frozen in a block of ice if the person I was referring to was within earshot) "NO BOYFRIENDS!"

I was still cackling when I boarded the plane.

* * *

 **A Protector Until The End**

* * *

Several hours into the plane trip I'd finally caved and decided to see if Kisuke's gift would blow up or not. Air travel was boring, regardless whether we'd been told our destination would come into view shortly.

Bringing the small case onto my lap (both it and the small box I'd chosen to keep on me instead of storing with my other luggage) before opening it and watching a single item drop into my lap.

A small wood/clay (still didn't know what it was made of after two years) pentagram dropped into my lap. Carved onto it were two bars that crisscrossed the main part of the object. A skull.

Kisuke had given me my Substitute Shinigami Combat Pass.

A note taped on the front of it simply said _'Remember your will to protect'_

There was a couple of other objects in the case, including a shoebox where I could swear I might've been hearing sound from, along with some kind of files filled with notes, but I wasn't paying attention to whatever the contents of the files may have been.

I was too distracted by the combat pass until the announcer spoke over the intercom.

"And if passengers look out the window now you can see us flying right over New York City" he droned like a tour guide.

Dad had sent me back here, quite possibly the only other place in the world I wouldn't want to go after Karakura town.

* * *

 **So, here we have it, the opening chapter of A Protector Until The End. Where it correlates in terms of the PJO timeline will become more obvious in coming chapters. I'm not gonna leave long drawn out explanations of my thought processes in this AN, I'm simply gonna say if you like the story, drop a review.**

 **And for the final time I'll mention it: THIS DOES NOT MEAN TO SHATTER FATE IS ON HIATUS OR CANCELLED. I simply chose to start this, rest assured, more chapters of that story will come in the future.**

 **Well, hope you guys look forward for where this goes, see ya next time :D**


	2. I Have Questions and No Answers

**Well I'll start the second chapter by feeling like slightly less of a dumbass, seeing as no complaints have been made towards me starting another story, more than that there hasn't been any negative backlash and I'm so thankful for you guys for it.**

 **Aside from one person in particular…**

 **-IRRELEVANT TO STORY, SKIP THIS-**

* * *

 **On that note, shoutout to "Franklin", who I'm gonna do my absolute best to prove as an insensitive asshole in front of all of you.**

 **Here's a message made straight to Franklin, because shit-stirrers like you always return to the scene of the crime. First off, you wanna tell someone to kill themselves? Then use an actual account ya cowardly (INSERT WORD FOR MALE GENATALIA HERE).**

 **Second off, suicide isn't a joke. People like you who sit around on the internet and say stuff like that should actually THINK about what you're saying before you do it. Words hurt, (INSERT WORD FOR FEMALE GENATALIA HERE)**

 **And finally, the part where you realise you're a dumbass for seeking attention. You called my story the "Single worst piece of garbage you've ever read". And for the record, you fucking (INSERT WORD FOR MORONIC CUNT HERE) you should realise I'm acknowledging you because I don't take you seriously. You're a joke.**

* * *

 **-POINT MADE-**

 **So yeah, thanks for all the support on the first chapter, and the inspiration train is rolling out with another because of it :P**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, locations or stories portrayed in this fic. Okay, saying locations sounds dumb because it's set in New York -_-**

* * *

 **A Protector Until The End: Chapter 2: I Have Questions and No Answers**

* * *

Maybe it was because I was still reeling from my surprise that I don't remember most of my arrival after that. I vaguely remember departing from the plane and buying a Starbucks in the airport. It seemed like it was early morning and I hadn't gotten any more sleep on the plane after I realised the destination.

Don't get me wrong, I have good – no, _great_ memories I would give anything to keep from back then. Problem is, sometimes you just have to wonder how bad an event will have to be to override any thoughts of the good memories.

Maybe it was because it was three in the morning or maybe it was because I wasn't much of a coffee fan but by the time the cab got into the city it was cold and tasted like dirt. Life advice? Never buy coffee from an airport at two thirty in the morning.

Scratch that; just don't use the paid machines.

Either way, it had definitely hit three thirty by the time I'd got out of the cab, getting a weird look from the driver like he'd expected to drop me off in a more popular residential area or maybe a hotel. I'd expected as much, this place was probably the area at the top of the list of places you wouldn't think people lived.

The apartment was in a quieter area of New York City, which was relatively surprising in a city that never seemed to sleep. It was on a side street you'd ignore, in a building you wouldn't notice. If anything, the place practically radiated an aura that made you want to go anywhere else.

Nobody ever questioned it, and my sleep deprived brain never did either. I hadn't questioned it when I was younger, why should I now?

Whatever people roamed the streets ignored me when I cut down the street you'd ignore. Nobody sent a passing glance when I entered the building people avoided like the plague. I'd guess they didn't give a shit and had their own stuff to be dealing with at three in the morning.

The building looked just like I'd remembered down to the smallest detail, though that wouldn't mean much to anybody else. The place was the typical apartment building you'd see in Manhattan. Regular (aged) brick building, fire escapes up the side of the building. All in all, nothing you wouldn't see anywhere else in Lower Manhattan. I saw it a bit better.

A plant pot rested on the third floor fire escape, looks like that finally got replaced. The cracked window next to it? Still cracked.

Random carvings of initials and poorly hidden spray-painting hidden by a small tree. That was still there too.

The list could've gone on, but if you want a long story short? I got into a lot of trouble when I was younger.

My thoughts aside, the coffee still tasted like dirt, and the moment I walked in the door of the building I'd instinctively tossed it to the left, into the bin awaiting it. It was scary to think I'd remembered this place so well. Maybe nightmares helped recall small details more than anything else.

There wasn't anybody at the counter, but it seemed to be for any wandering tenants that the building had been left open. I took the stairs on the left and ascended. I'd broken the elevator when I was eleven.

I think that was the first time Dad realised he shouldn't leave five preteens alone in an apartment with nothing better to do when two of them had attention disorders (or in which Dad realised going on shopping trips with just Yuzu and Karin was probably not a good idea).

The moment the thoughts about _them_ entered my mind I banished them, going so far as recalling details about the battles I'd fought in Hueco Mundo and all the mistakes I'd made to avoid remembering.

The apartment was on the third floor up, the door at the end of the hall. I'd thought Dad had rented this place out when we lived here, but I guess not. I took the key from my pocket and slid it into the door, entering the last place on earth I ever wanted to go.

The door shut behind me and I stood there, dazed and unable to figure out what to do.

Perhaps reflexively because nobody was home I reached a hand towards the light switch, but I grabbed my own wrist before I could turn it on.

Not now, I didn't want to do this now. Why did he have to send me here?

My breathing laboured.

You can face down Kenpachi Zaraki and you can't even deal with a few memories? You're pathetic. I imagined an alabaster white face with golden irises and black sclera telling me that in a double toned voice. Except I didn't need to be told it by someone else when I was being told it by myself.

My hand left the light switch and returned to my bag. Even in the darkness I remembered where things were. I stepped through the living room and took the first available door on the left, followed the wall and took the final door.

It might've been Dad's room back when we lived here but I couldn't care less. This room had fewer memories to deal with. I collapsed onto the bed and let sleep overcome me as fast as I could make it.

It never came fast enough

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 **A Protector Until The End**

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"Sorry to keep you waiting, Ulquiorra. I believe this is what you wanted to see" I wouldn't lose to him. He'd made it personal when he went after my friends.

I brought my hand to my face and finished my statement "my Hollowfication" the black Reiatsu formed around my hand on command and I tore it to the side, forming my Hollow mask over my face.

I let out a battle cry, full of rage and desire to win. An instant later and I was before him, Tensa Zangetsu coated in a Getsuga clashing against the Fourth Espada's blade, forming a crack in its metal. I pressed my advantage and forced more power through my blade, and the Getsuga responded.

Ulquiorra was forced to jump back to avoid taking more damage before charging towards me again. I glared defiantly; I wouldn't lose to him, not again.

More clashes ensued until I won out the clash again, forcing him through the wall with another Getsuga. I charged after him.

The emotionless Arrancar raised his hand as he fell, a Cero forming before firing into my direction. I kept charging towards it.

No, that wasn't right. I'd blocked it. I know I had.

And yet still I charged through the Cero, but I felt no pain from its impact. I kept charging through until the Cero dissipated. Except when it did I wasn't in Hueco Mundo anymore.

"Where am I?" I called out, though surprise appeared when the double toned voice of my Hollow mask didn't follow. I raised a hand to my face in shock, finding the mask no longer there. Then I saw my sleeve.

This wasn't the coat of my Bankai, this was a normal hoodie. How was I back in my body?

Then I noticed my location. Empty blackness everywhere, the only identifiable scenery was a pit in the centre of wherever I was.

 **Lonely, isn't it? Just like you.** A voice rang out. It wasn't the wizened advisory voice of Old Man Zangetsu, nor was it the double toned psychotic one I'd expected from my inner Hollow. This voice was powerful, and I felt as though I should know it.

The only other feeling I got was one I felt in the presence of Sosuke Aizen. A feeling that screamed _enemy._

I reached for my blade, but Zangetsu, Tensa or otherwise, wasn't with me. Then its words struck me. Lonely. Like the empty city inside my soul. I was powerless.

 **What would you do for power?** The voice beckoned me, and suddenly I was standing over the pit.

I wanted to deny it, to follow my gut that this was an enemy, but some other part of me took control, and I replied to the voice.

"Anything"

 **Then pay your price.**

I fell into the pit.

* * *

 **A Protector Until The End**

* * *

I awoke with a start. Maybe it was because I was restless and had little sleep or maybe it was how awkwardly I slept that meant when I awoke my first instinct was to roll over the bed, allowing me to slip behind some kind of cover, before I reached over my shoulder to draw my blade that wasn't there.

I'd probably sat there on the end of the bed for another hour thinking to myself and dismissing what dreamt as just another nightmare. I don't know if I'd taken that long because I was shaken or because I was actually just preparing myself for what would come next.

My watch said it was nine thirty in the morning, which I begrudgingly trusted despite wondering if I'd actually changed the time on it or not.

I stepped out into the hallway, retracing my steps to the entrance to the apartment, and my hand once more faltered on the switch.

Dad had sent me here for a reason. That fact was reinforced more so when Kisuke was there; and my first step to finding whatever I was looking for or whatever my answer was meant to be started with facing what had happened.

I flicked the switch, and let the lights spring to life. The bulbs worked surprisingly well seeing as they probably hadn't been used in about five years.

Five years. It had really been that long, hadn't it? I turned and faced the apartment. To the left of the door was a small kitchen, though it was naturaly devoid of utensils (and hopefully the fridge was devoid of food)

A wall next to me was filled by a counter and a hat stand. The glass bowl for keys still sat there so I went and dumped my key into it. I averted my gaze from the rest of the counter and walked into the lounge.

Relatively simple setup, just the way we'd liked it. TV and a DVD player on the unit in the corner and a pair of sofas occupying the extra space. The edge of the room still lined with cabinets containing who-knows-what from back then.

Huh, it seemed smaller than I remember, though back then everything always seemed so big. I guess that was what it was like to grow up.

I guess there was no point hiding from it; I knew it'd still be there. I'd been the one that told Dad to leave it, and he'd been the one that obliged because he saw how I'd been whenever I looked at it.

I walked back to the cabinet by the door, running my finger along the thick layer of dust that'd appeared over it through the years and set my eyes on the object in the middle.

A set of photos framed lay against the wall. I hesitantly picked the frame up and dusted it off with my sleeve. It'd been a way to record the greatest memories of our 'Vacation' to New York. Even now Dad called it a vacation, it wasn't. Vacations don't last two years.

I still didn't understand why he'd moved us back to Karakura town, but I knew he didn't originally plan to. I could tell he'd moved us here to get away from Karakura and the sadness caused by Mom's death. My best guess at why we moved back made the story ironic at least.

Death drove us away from Karakura town, and death drove us back to Karakura town.

I set my eyes on the frame. Lots of pictures decorated it, some edited to be small enough to fit around the edges while more memorable or important ones centred the frame.

One of the photos in the middle was where my gaze landed next. A picture of a younger me accompanied by a taller blond boy older than me, a younger blond girl, probably just older than Yuzu or Karin, a scruffy boy just older than me with curly brown hair covered by a Rasta cap.

Then my gaze landed on the final person in the picture, the one I'd made the unconscious effort to avoid looking at. Spiky black hair and electric blue eyes belonged to the girl wearing clothes you'd typically associate with the word 'punk', she was slightly taller than me in the picture and stood with her arm hung over my shoulder.

It'd been five years, and I still hadn't found closure.

Dad had given me so many questions I couldn't answer and as much time as I'd need to figure it out. I guess I truly did have all the time in the world to bring myself back to the world where everybody else was.

I just never realised how long it'd really take me.

* * *

 **A Protector Until The End**

* * *

Hours blurred into days blurred into weeks blurred further and before I knew it a month had passed.

I still had no answers, no closure. That was the issue with irrational self-hatred. Blame yourself for a death you couldn't have prevented for long enough and you'll never be able to figure out how to move past it.

I didn't open the box Dad gave me. Maybe I was stubborn like that, not wanting to be given answers and accept them. I had to figure this out on my own. The same went for Kisuke's notes, though glossing over them I knew he was trying to look out for me.

Trust Kisuke to help me out without giving any answers, though looking at his notes I didn't understand why he'd wanted to teach me this or why I'd need it, but I trusted his judgement.

It was maybe when I'd hit two months since I'd left I acknowledged I hadn't made any steps towards finding my answers, nor had I made any steps towards figuring out all of the questions I wanted answering.

Two months since I'd came back here, and I chose to leave and try to figure out answers for myself. I'd pick a direction and walk a while and see where I'd end up.

Maybe I was just strange or incredibly dumb (probably both) but I went against driving. Maybe it was because longer journeys would give me more time to think, or maybe it was because I just didn't want any more thoughts that brought memories, or dull headaches where I thought memories should've been.

Either way, I headed west. Maybe I'd swing towards Washington, visit some landmarks or something.

I never should've gone west.

* * *

 **A Protector Until The End**

* * *

Once more time seemed to blur forward. To me it felt like time and the world moved forward while I was standing still, just like it had back then.

Back when my friends could move forward with their lives, still take classes and fight Hollows on the side, all while I sat in the back letting my powerlessness drown me in distraction so I was left ignoring classes.

It truly was a vicious cycle.

I think I'd hit a month or two later when I'd finally reached somewhere large enough to be identifiable to me, more so when I asked where I was on a map and figured out where I'd ended up.

Important tip? Washington is pretty much due west of New York, though when you get closer you have to start heading north. I'd ended up getting mixed around and headed south.

You know you must be some kind of moron when you're heading for Washington and end up in Vegas.

I remembered when I was a kid and Dad _may_ have had a small issue with gambling. He'd always talked about wanting to visit one of these casinos that were so common in Vegas, though that thought ended when Mom reminded him he was meant to be a _responsible_ adult. Looking at it now, whether she knew or not, maybe she meant he was meant to be acting his age.

Meaning acting like an over one hundred year old instead of a moronic twenty something year old.

Either way, I'd figured I'd do something reckless and dumb with a few bucks and walked into the nearest casino, one that had a giant image of a lotus flower emblazoned over the doors.

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 **A Protector Until The End**

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I walked out an hour later with only a few more bucks than when I went in. I sucked at gambling, okay?

Either way, that place had me freaked out, like a pit in my stomach that just didn't feel right. Either way, I'd best grab my bag and keep going on my way. Washington was north. I couldn't get north wrong, could I?

 _East_ , a voice whispered in my mind. It felt familiar, but at the same time not. Had I heard this voice before?

 _If you seek your answers search east, towards death. East, towards life. Repay this debt, Lunar Fang._

What the hell? Okay, so it wasn't the voice from my nightmares and it definitely didn't belong to either of my sources of power. Zangetsu was vague, he didn't speak in riddles. The Hollow was probably too bloodthirsty to know what a riddle was. Either way, the voice had an edge to it, ancient and powerful, like I was staring down Old Man Yama on a bad day.

What the fuck was I walking into?

I went east.

* * *

 **Well, there we have it, the second chapter of A Protector Until The End. Not sure what to think about this one purely because it's setting up background bits and ideally we'll actually get into the books in the next chapter.**

 **A thousand apologies for taking so long on what (in my eyes) isn't a very long chapter. Truthfully I had this done two to three days after publishing the first chapter but then my computer broke and has only just been fixed so I'm only getting access to my files now. The same excuse goes to those of you who read To Shatter Fate - the next chapter for that still isn't finished because I haven't gotten to write anything for the past two weeks or so - sorry.**

 **Anyway, the time off at least gave me enough time to get through to the third Heroes of Olympus books, so yay for that.**

 **Finally, thanks for reading, reviews are always appreciated - see ya next time :D**


	3. Why Doesn't The Supernatural Make Sense?

**Heyo people of the internet! If you couldn't tell I've been happy to have a working PC again which is why I'm rolling out another chapter already :P**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own any of the wonderful worlds created by the wonderful authors that my writing portrays. All I own is the half strewn together concepts that merge the two worlds into one, though that won't make more sense until we get far enough into the story for me to establish any of those concepts.**

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 **A Protector Until The End: Chapter 3: (Arguably) The Second Most Confusing Day Of My Life**

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Okay, so I'm going to be completely honest right now. I didn't know what to expect when a voice in my head in Vegas told me to head east to find the answers I was looking for.

At that point I also wasn't dismissing getting dosed with something hallucinogenic and/or alcoholic that made that voice appear in my mind, though really I was ignoring that idea. Though where most people would dismiss hearing a voice in their head telling them what to do I'd come to accept and somewhat welcome something giving me a clue as to what the hell I was doing.

For those of you that would call that 'dumb' or 'insane', I'd respond by telling you how I'd probably have blown myself up with my first controlled Getsuga without Zangetsu narrating my every mistake (of which there were many for a teen with the Reiatsu control of a Demi-Hollow).

Anyway, back to topic: I really had no idea what I was expecting after leaving Vegas, though temperatures that felt more like Fall than Summer wasn't one of those things (seriously, did Vegas have crazy weather conditions? Because I walked in wearing a T-shirt and jeans and left with a new coat).

I'll give you the biggest issue of being told only a vague direction of where to search though: it's only a vague direction of where to search. East could be literally anywhere in the world, if I went East far enough I could just end up standing exactly where I was now.

So I walked back in the direction I came towards New York complaining that the usual voices in my head were usually less vague (if only slightly).

After that, it was just trusting what I'd relied on so much to keep me alive since I'd gained Shinigami powers – instinct. By the time I'd mostly walked all the way back to the apartment in Manhattan – apparently orange hair is the biggest cause for distrust on the planet, it makes you both a thug and it makes you look either unstable or likely enough to steal a car that people drive past you (or people in this country just really don't like hitchhikers) - my gut was telling me I still wasn't close to whatever I was supposed to look for, so I kept going.

If you think I'm gonna get into some interesting story or adventure here, you're wrong. All I had was a direction to go in to find an answer to a question I wasn't entirely sure of.

Yep. Two years after losing my powers and stuff still made little to no sense.

All that was left for me was to restock on stuff from the apartment (thankfully more cash this time, seeing as it looked like I'd be travelling for a while) and I'd taken the old car we had when we lived here and started driving east.

For the record (looking back now) I was a complete idiot for choosing to walk the first time, though some could argue I'd be better off walking if they saw the car Dad had for us back when we'd lived here – and had left for me when I came back here.

It was a Beetle. Now for those of you that don't get what that means, it means it wasn't the best looking car (especially when the silver paint job had five years unattended so it looked like the entire thing was ready to die).

That being said, I threw together the stuff I'd need into a couple of duffle bags and tossed them into the back seat. The box Dad had given me was still safely stored in the apartment – I knew he'd given me it because he cared, much like the Kido 'good luck charm' that had saved my body (and Kon) from Grand Fisher, but I had to figure this stuff out on my own. Kisuke's notes we still in the apartment too, though for a different reason. My trips to and from Vegas were enough to go through and give me the months I needed to learn what he'd given me, now I was just hoping I wouldn't have to use it.

Pushing those thoughts aside, I knew somewhere inside me that this would be where I could find some kind of answer, so I turned the key and the old Beetle sputtered to life.

And then promptly died, sputtering into death the same way it had life.

Okay, my journey for answers could start AFTER I learned how to fix a car that had been neglected for five years.

* * *

 **A Protector Until The End**

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It wasn't a very pretty picture, but the old car had done its job pretty damn well, getting me from Manhattan all the way up to Bar Harbour. That was the general consensus as I pulled my coat closer around me for warmth. I really must've lost track of time between the times I'd spent wandering the country because winter rolled around way faster than I felt it should've.

I'd broken down (for was it the fifth or seventh time?) on the slopes of a road that didn't look too safe to be driving on. Evidently it wasn't safe to drive on after I nearly crashed into another car heading the opposite way – I'd yelled a quick apology to the woman driving past, though she seemed to nervous or lost in her own thoughts. I guess I'd be the same after a near collision on a very precarious road.

Either way, the car had stopped dead once more, but the feeling in my gut now felt stronger than ever – the same feeling that led me from Vegas back to Manhattan, and from Manhattan to here.

As for where here was? According to the map this looked like it was a place called Westover Hall, some kind of military academy or boarding school type junk.

I was officially as confused as ever. Was the feeling in my gut trying to tell me to go to school or had I truly lost my last bit of sanity (if it was the latter option I blame my inner Hollow).

Well, my instincts hadn't failed me before, so it looked like I was going to look around this place for whatever I was searching for.

That is, after I managed to push the Beetle up to the top of the hill near the school so it would be off the road. Seriously, if the cold and grey castle-like image the school provided wasn't intimidating enough then the dangerous or even almost deadly road leading up to it definitely made it seem like it was a place to get rid of troublesome kids or something like that.

I laughed at that. Maybe the universe did want me in a place like this after all the trouble I'd caused. Whatever, when did I listen to sound logic or reason anyway?

Either way, the closer I got to the school the easier it was to glimpse through the snowy weather. Trash my earlier thoughts of the school, this place looked like a memorial for every bad guy's evil fortress ever. Dark bricks building large and imposing walls and towers along with just about every other design idea that made it look like the school didn't even belong in this era. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if I found out this place was older than my Dad.

The feeling I got from this place was almost screaming that I was in the right place, that I'd finally find some clue to my answers, so I ascended the steps to the school.

It was when I reached the top of the steps that the feeling of danger overtook me. Giant wooden doors, the entrance to the school, hung wide open, battering in the wind. I thought military schools weren't the kind to let students out so much?

I ignored the feeling I was getting to get a closer look and try and figure out what was wrong when I felt something crunch under my foot, like I'd stepped on something. Reaching down and picking it up it looked like I'd stepped on some kind of trading card, a bit like the things that were always popular with kids.

It had the word 'Mythomagic' written across the back. I drew a blank on that one, though it didn't surprise me much, I wasn't really a fan of trading cards (nor was I a kid).

I was about to drop the card in my hand when I realised the feeling I was getting from it. It almost felt like Reiatsu around the card, and when I focussed I could vaguely see a trail of spirit energy that looped all around this place.

I guess there were a few things I hadn't fully learned from Kisuke's notes, but all I knew was right now whatever – no, whoever - I'm looking for went into the forest, and if the doors are any indication it was in some sort of hurry.

I turned and started walking towards the forest, full of anticipation. What if the person I was looking for could answer my questions and give me the answer I'd been searching for? The end of what had become my solitude seemed so close.

It was when I passed the treeline that my anticipation was overpowered with _dread_. It almost felt like being in the presence of Ulquiorra Schiffer in his Segunda Etapa, only much less powerful. Like standing in front of something dark and staring it in the eyes. What if this was the person I had been looking for – or what if I wasn't the only person looking.

I broke into a run, narrowly avoiding the trees that seemed to so inconveniently invade my vision through the snow right before I impacted into them.

It was then that a voice seemed to echo around the forest (either something paranormal was going on or apparently voices could echo in forests). "You believe that defeating me will make any difference? That saving these children will make any difference? Truly, you are foolish, son of Poseidon" The first thing that struck me was that whoever this man was, he was French. Other than that apparently he was also insane seeing as whoever he was speaking to he was calling the child of a Greek god.

I heard clashing, battle cries and the usual sounds my brain would accompany with a fight going on, and then the Frenchman seemed to want to taunt his enemies again. "The General has plans for you Perseus Jackson, as does he for these children! They may join his army and already they lead the final piece of his plan to us now!" Okay, new lot of information. This 'Perseus Jackson' was most likely the same person the loony Frenchman had called the son of the Greek sea god. Second was that there were kids in the line of fire in that fight.

As for a 'General' and his plan, I got an awful foreboding feeling in my gut as I saw the edge of the treeline, and if the sounds of crashing waves were indication it was also near the edge of the cliff.

Well, if I was walking straight into a fight I may as well go full throttle. Luckily for me the Frenchman also reeked of the dark feeling I'd felt since entering the forest.

If I was sprinting into a fight where the opponent had clearly thought himself to have enough of an advantage to stop and chat, I'd wager it'd be best to make myself the biggest, loudest target possible. Good thing I'd learned a few things from Keigo about 'loud and obnoxious'.

"Hey!" I yelled, right before breaking through the treeline, and the surprised sound I'd heard at least showed I'd taken his attention. My brain didn't really register what I was charging at before he'd responded by swinging around a… tail? And I'd leapt over him instinctually, forgetting my attempted attack.

I landed and swiftly turned, stopping momentum before I shifted too close to the cliffs edge. Then I got a good look of the so called 'Frenchman' I'd been hearing as I'd sprinted through the forest.

It was then I started using the term 'Frenchman' very loosely to describe the thing before me. Stereotypes or racial insults aside, I'm pretty sure having a lion's body, a human head and a tail (that definitely didn't belong to the lion) wasn't normal in any country.

Naturally, that didn't translate the same way in words, my intelligent response to his appearance being "What the hell are you supposed to be?"

In the time the man-lion-thing's brain took to register my response, I noticed the presence of others in the clearing. At the edge of the clearing stood two younger children (I use the term vaguely seeing as the other kids were barely older by only a couple of years) that definitely looked like siblings, both having black hair and the same shade of olive skin.

Standing protectively in front of them was a kid who looked too familiar for words, yet so different at the same time. Curly brown hair and the same face from photos in my apartment, if barely two or three years older. The similarity with my memories stopped there, looking closer (though for a few moments my mind seemed to be trying to show me anything else) I realised where his legs should've been were shorter, _much_ furrier, appendages. He had a goat's ass. I restate my early question to the lion-man-thing, what the hell?

Standing near him with a dagger drawn was a girl with curly blond hair wearing a coat that just barely showed an orange shirt underneath. Luckily for my sanity at least she looked a lot more human than the others.

Much the same could be said for the other teen standing near her, a boy of similar age to the blond with jet black hair, and looking closer it seemed that he'd gotten too close to the lion part of the thing in front of me as indicated by the slashed open parts of his clothing. In his hand he held a glowing bronze sword that was levelled defensively against the creature.

The final person in the clearing looked just as on edge against the creature as everybody else, and also seemed so focussed as to not spare a passing glance to my appearance. I couldn't see much more about her than I could the other people in the clearing, but I recognised spiky black hair and a leather jacket. The rest was hidden behind a shield displaying some freaky demon woman's head and the spear she held towards the enemy.

It seemed that when I levelled my gaze against the creature and settled into a fighting stance the teens probably decided to question (or kill, though hopefully not) me about my appearance later, though it seemed the lion guy had a tendency to monologue, and decided my appearance was worth noting.

"Ohoho! Speak of the devil and he shall appear, as these mortals say. The General told me your power would be drawn to the Great Stirring but he did not predict things would play out as they have. It would seem I shall be bringing The General multiple half-bloods, the offspring of Poseidon and Zeus and the Heaven Piercer himself!" Okay… lion-man-thing with an ego. Definitely not as bad as Shinigami-Butterfly-thing with a tendency to monologue. But the final title he uttered put me on edge.

"How do you know who I am!?" I questioned, my left hand closed around my Combat Pass as I pulled it from the chain around my belt. This guy liked to talk, so I'd let him spill what I wanted to know.

"You mean Heaven Piercer? Well you would know what that title means as well as I do, Ichigo Kurosaki. You should be honoured, for you will play a great role in The General's plan!" So that's how this was? Another power hungry bastard thinking they could use me as a pawn?

"Ichigo… Kurosaki?" the brown haired teen (the one with the goat's ass) questioned. It seemed the mention of my name meant something to the other teens. Glancing to the side I saw that the black haired girl had lowered her stance and was looking at me like I was something impossible. In fact the only ones no giving me weird looks at mention of my name were the black haired teen and the two kids behind goat-boy.

I didn't really care. I was too focussed on one thing, sending a message to this 'General'. The message in question? I'm nobody's pawn, and that I'd kill anyone he sent that thought otherwise. More than that I knew this thing was a danger to everyone in this clearing; he'd caused the injuries on the black haired boy and there were kids here who would be younger than Yuzu and Karin that this guy was after. I was doing this to **protect** them.

Just like that, my will responded and black and red Reiatsu, that of my Hollow, flowed from my combat pass up my arm. This was the power I'd gained from Kisuke's notes, his gift as my teacher to protect myself from whatever happened on my journey. This was my Fullbring.

When the Reiatsu solidified and disappeared, the physical embodiment of my will to protect was revealed. Imagine a regular round shield mounted to a gauntlet that went up to your elbow.

Then imagine I'd let my inner Hollow have his own arts and crafts show where he got to redesign the shield in his own image.

The gauntlet was pitch black, not unlike how my Bankai merged with my arm when I learned the Final Getsuga Tensho (though the shield was on my left arm as opposed to my right). Then there was the shield. Instead of a normal round shield it was alabaster white and larger than a normal shield would be. Around the edge of the shield it seemed like the shield itself had been sharpened like a blade. Black bone like protrusions stuck out at regular intervals around the edge of the shield, perhaps creating the image of a shield made of bone.

Then came the part that scared _me_.

What adorned the front of the shield was a bone-like mask, sized more like a helmet than a mask. Down the mask, over the eyes ran two thick black lines that showed the hollow sockets of the mask. A pair of horns jutted out from the front of the mask.

The main ornament of my shield was the mask from when I fully hollowfied.

I don't know what kind of reaction the monster had to me having power, all I know is he probably couldn't fully convey it in the three seconds it took for me to charge him. At the sight of my speed heading straight at him his tail swung out before oversized thorns launched out from it.

Honestly, if there's one thing you should know about me fighting when I'm pissed off? I fight like a man possessed, an image fully reinforced with the killer instincts of a wild beast. I raised my shield over my head to stop the thorns and the monster thought I'd left myself open so he could charge me with claws bared to tear me to shreds.

I'd be the first to say fighting something like this wasn't like fighting Hollows. A Hollow could always be beaten by a Zanpakuto, and I didn't know if there was a certain weapon this thing would be weaker to but either way I didn't have whatever it was. So I attacked the part of him I did have experience fighting.

Luckily for me he did recoil when I slammed my fist into his face, and to force him back I followed up with a kick to his side. Note to self: the human parts are as easy as hitting regular humans. The monster bits? Not so much. I'd felt like I just kicked a brick wall and had to bring my shield up when his next strike pushed me back.

I'd guess it was about to stop and taunt that I couldn't beat it, but he was cut off when the black haired girl charged him with her spear raised. Her spear jabbed towards the human head of the monster and it looked like he'd been caught off guard enough for her to deliver a killing blow, but the monster swiped the spear off to the side so it barely grazed him and then he raised his claws to tear the girl to shreds.

She turned just in time to watch me divert the claw off to the side with my shield and turn to bash it at the monster while he was off guard. Now when somebody is usually bashed with a normal shield, you'd expect it to just be blunt force to push them back. My shield was different, especially if you remember it has horns.

The monster let out a yell of surprise as it bounded backwards, crying in pain from the blow I'd inflicted. I could _feel_ blood drip from the horns of the Hollow though it seemed like it was less like blood and more like essence, like I'd cut his soul.

I was cut off by an invasion of noise I'd been too focused to acknowledge as a potential threat. It was a sleek black military helicopter is what I'd tell you at first glance. Other than that I'd say it looked like it had a lot of big threatening toys attached that I really wish weren't pointed toward me right now.

The creature's cries of pain turned into a harsh laugh, like he was trying to remain in control despite my appearance and despite his own injuries. He laughed (and coughed a bit) out "Now do you see how hopeless it is? Yield, little heroes."

My shield hummed at me, it'd gotten a taste of his essence and wanted _more._ Inky blackness ran over the vision in my right eye. It looked like I'd be using more of the shield's power than I really wanted to in this situation.

Then a horn rang out, and I was baffled as to what the hell it meant but the creature froze in fear leaving the only sound to be that of the helicopter that surprisingly hadn't opened fire yet.

"No, it cannot be-." That was all the creature got out before a streak of white passed my vision and an arrow sprouted from his shoulder. For a second I'd been relieved at the sight before realising it was an actual arrow, not one from Uryu's bow. Great, just what I needed: more people who don't know me and could possibly try to kill me after this.

Another presence entered my senses. I didn't know what it was, just that it felt ancient and powerful. It almost and probably was the same way I'd felt standing in the presence of a pissed off Old Man Yamamoto. Unlike the creature however, this presence felt _light_. If anything the presence radiated with my power. The Hollow wasn't happy with that, and I completely lost the vision in my right eye to darkness.

The beast snarled and his tail rose, but I was in too much of a hurry to disperse the Reiatsu than I was to listen to his anger, and when the spikes flew from his tail and arrows came to meet them, I raised my shield and felt the demon roar. I didn't need to see it to know that the right eye of the mask on the shield was shining a malevolent yellow.

The monster turned to me, as did the others, when it roared. I pooled my energy through the shield and the demon obliged, the red orb of Reiatsu forming.

"Cero!" I called out my attack and the beam shot forward, the power of it recoiling me back when the beam flew out of control. It narrowly missed the creature and instead caught the blades of the helicopter. I could tell from my exhaustion from the single attack that the demon decided to take more than I wanted him to when the Cero melted through the blades with little resistance, causing the helicopter to veer off course. It was shortly followed by the sound of an explosion down the cliff.

It took me several moments to steady my breathing. This was the biggest drawback of the shield, that it had a mind of its own. It wasn't the same as my inner Hollow; instead it was a primitive beast only capable of destruction and death, and unfortunately it had better control of the Reiatsu in the shield than I did so it often took far too much energy for attacks. The demon purred in content at the sound of the explosion and that was enough for me to know I'd killed any passengers on board. The only saving grace for my morality on that was they were people who would align themselves with monsters and try to start some kind of war.

Once I'd steadied myself I saw them entering the clearing, and I completely blanched. In my life I'd seen people over a century old who'd looked like kids and I'd seen people half a dozen centuries old who still looked to be in their prime. That did not prepare me to find out we'd been backed up by a dozen (probably about) preteen girls in jeans and parkas armed with bows and arrows.

In fact, it was possibly only because Toshiro looked like a kid but was probably almost two hundred years old that I could stop myself from gaping at them. If I hadn't acknowledged it before I definitely was now; my life wasn't getting any saner, it was getting crazier by the day.

"The Hunters!" the blonde girl exclaimed across the clearing, and my brain's immediate response was thinking 'no, they're here to sell Girl Scout cookies and the hunting gear is just for show!'

To the side of me, the punk girl (who was still glancing at me giving me weird looks) muttered "Oh, wonderful" note the immediate sarcasm. Well there goes my hopes of not being the only clueless one, these guys had history with the 'Hunters', or at least the girl next to me did.

My questioning stopped when one of the hunters stepped forward with a bow drawn. She was tall and had copper coloured skin. Coupled with that she had a silver circlet braided into the top of her long dark her and a regal feeling that practically screamed she was gonna piss me off.

Any chance she was a living descendant of a Kuchiki? I questioned somewhere in my brain.

"Permission to kill, my lady?" Her eyes showed years of experience, if not longer. Her gaze didn't falter from the creature as she asked her question.

"This is not fair! Direct interference! It is against the ancient laws!" The monster wailed out. I didn't know what interference or laws he was talking about but I could tell he was talking of the presence I'd felt.

"Not so." One of the younger girls said. Her auburn hair was kept in a ponytail and her eyes were silvery yellow. She was undoubtedly the presence I'd felt. "The hunting of all wild beasts is within my sphere. And you, foul creature, are a wild beast." She turned to the other girl "Zoë, permission granted."

I'd figured there and then that the moment Zoë finished off the monster I'd be next on people's list of problems to be solved, so I started looking for exit strategies should these people turn hostile. Figures that they'd have the treeline covered and the only other way to get away would be by jumping off a cliff.

Essentially if they deemed me an enemy I'd probably be able to take a couple of them with me before I died or the demon took hold again.

The monster had other ideas, growling out "If I cannot have these alive, I shall have them dead!" He charged towards me and the black haired girl and I realised he was trying to charge the weakest links. I was fatigued and still somewhat dazed after having my energy drained in the Cero and the girl's former fierce attitude in battle had died off between injuries sustained and distraction. Where I'd taken the hunters swift takedown of the monster as cue to figure out what to do if they attacked she'd been looking at me and when the monster charged I turned and saw electric blue eyes shining with tears.

I got that confusing sight for all of half a second before a cry of "No!" rang out from across the clearing and I tackled her to the side as spikes impaled the tree behind us, most likely a pre-emptive strike before he tried to tear us to shreds.

I forced myself to my feet, my eyes bleary. Damn demon, he'd taken way more out of me than I thought. Apparently the spike that'd impaled my leg wasn't of much help either though. I yanked the offending thing out of my leg and the demon obliged, Reiatsu flowing over the wound to seal it. Even if it wasn't as articulate and didn't have as much sentience as my Inner Hollow, it still had enough sense to know it died if I did.

That didn't stop the burning sensation in my leg. The spike was poisoned.

I heard Zoë call out the order of "Fire!" and the black haired boy (my brain had caught on by now so I had about an eight out of ten chance he was Perseus Jackson) responded with a cry of "No!"

I staggered forward – what had happened? – I put as much focus as I could into being able to maintain clear images, and I watched the monster tumble over the edge with the blonde haired girl on its back, Perseus' despaired shout of "Annabeth!" following it.

I was standing in a clearing, bleeding and poisoned surrounded by Hunters, two bewildered preteens, the son of the sea god and two others.

An old friend with a goat's ass and my dead best friend.

I'm starting to think taking up a drinking habit would make the world not making sense seem easier.

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 **Well here we are diving head first into PJO canon. For readers of my other story who wonder why this story had a lot less setup chapters before getting to canon it's because this story is in first person so there isn't much I can spill in setup and the bits that happen pre-canon from my story will only be hinted at until actually referenced.**

 **Anyway, I'd appreciate opinions on the story so far now we're onto canon PJO so feel free to drop a review, they're always seriously appreciated.**

 **See ya next time :D**


	4. Answers and More Questions

**Not much to say, glad people are enjoying it and here's the next chapter :)**

 **I don't own anything and deedleydeedleydee.**

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 **A Protector Until The End: Chapter 4: Answers and More Questions**

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After the monster took a tumble off the cliff with Annabeth in tow, I was left barely conscious enough to move and hold my back to the tree as support. My vision was still correcting itself and the adrenaline wearing off alerted me to the presence of the thorn sticking out of my side.

Sometimes the demon's ability to numb pain was more a curse than a blessing.

Either way, I stood there trying – and failing – to regain my bearings, so I figured I'd just wait for somebody else to start the inevitable conversation that would lead to questioning my presence. My own survival was outweighing my surprise at Thalia not being dead at the moment.

That was the reason we'd left New York, back when I'd found out she'd died. Pretty much the way it went was that we met them one day in the city and Dad offered them a place to stay on realising they were homeless. 'They' being Thalia (the one who should be dead as far as I knew), Annabeth (the blond who took a tumble off a cliff with a man-lion-thing), Grover (who had a goat's ass) and Luke (who I couldn't comment upon seeing as he wasn't present).

From then on they'd stayed with us for what must've been several months, though I vaguely remember bits where they'd be looking over their shoulders, expecting something to come. What accompanied that were always blanks, like I just couldn't remember why.

Then one day they'd left, and less than a month later we'd gotten the call from Annabeth. The exact details were always blurry, but something had happened and Thalia was dead. I might not have known any of them for long but they were all important friends to me, especially when I fit the 'outcast foreigner' stereotype when we moved to the States.

Either way, Thalia's death hit me hard and always left thoughts of 'What if I had gone with them?' or 'Why couldn't I have done anything?' Maybe I was just self-centred like that. Either way it affected me bad enough for Dad to move us back to Karakura, even if the wound never healed.

I raised my head (futilely – I still could only just make out blurred images) at the sound of Zoë's voice, dripping with distaste, "You" was all she said.

A more suicidal-sarcastic part of my brain wanted to call out and ask who she was addressing seeing as some of us still couldn't see, though it was never voiced when Thalia (I think) responded "Zoë Nightshade" yep, I remember enough to know that angry tone the moment I hear it. The one thing in the universe scarier than Unohana-san (to me at least). "Perfect timing, as usual" so those two had some sort of problem, not much I could get other than that.

A moment of silence again before Zoë spoke "Four half-bloods, a satyr and the _boy_ , my lady" the way she spat the word boy confused and miffed me. Looks like all I had to do was be there to make some people dislike me.

Against my better judgement, I spoke out in response "Well this _boy_ isn't really fond of being called that and frankly this _boy_ would appreciate knowing what the hell's going on!" My vision cleared enough to see her turn to glare at me, and when her hand twitched I thought she might've actually gone for an arrow. Didn't really bother me, I'd been around people who could kill you with their presence alone.

Though it seemed Ms. Holier-than-thou was interrupted when Perseus exclaimed "Annabeth! You have to let us save her!" One glance and I knew he was like me; he'd do whatever it took to protect his friends. Which was made especially obvious when he'd wanted to save someone who took a tumble off a cliff riding a monster.

I could hear the determination in his voice, but I had to tell him before he made a fatal mistake "Annabeth's already gone, there's nothing you can do to help her now"

He turned to face me, his expression displaying anger and _fear_ , like I'd just spoken words that robbed him of a friend "How would you know if she died?!"

I rubbed my eyes, my vision almost clear "I said gone, Perseus. I didn't say she was dead. I'd have been able to feel it if she'd died. I'm saying that wherever that thing went when it fell off the cliff it's already gotten far enough to be out of my sensory range, so probably a few miles at least by now"

"Indeed, the Lunar Fang is correct" the same auburn haired girl from before, the one that radiated power spoke. Just _what_ was she? She was another to have called me Lunar Fang after the voice in Vegas, the same way the monster had called me the Heaven Piercer. How did they know anything about me?

I figured I'd start with the easy question, but apparently my usual disrespect for any figure of power or authority kicked in with my exhaustion and the question 'Who are you?' came out as "So who the hell are you anyway?"

A second later and I had an arrow pressed against the side of my head. Apparently Zoë _really_ didn't like me.

"No" the girl ordered "Disrespect is simply a part of his nature. He does not give respect if he does not believe it should be given, and I suppose his actions in previous years have earned him some right. I am Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt."

* * *

 **A Protector Until The End**

* * *

I think I made the wisest move of my life to just stop talking so I could stand there and stew in my confusion. Though her being Artemis made a bit of sense. She was supposed to also be the goddess of the moon, which would explain why my power resonated on a similar level.

Though, the whole being a Greek god part made no sense to me whatsoever.

Though her introduction got an "Um…okay" from Perseus though the most exaggerated reaction was Grover's. He practically threw himself into the snow on his knees and started blabbering "Thank you, Lady Artemis! You're so… you're so…Wow!" was fan-goating a term I could use?

"Get up, goat boy!" Thalia's temper seemed to have had it with the Hunters already, though I didn't understand why (maybe something to do with mythology I barely remembered). Either way I think she was trying to avoid acknowledging I was still here for the same reason I was; trying to get over the confusion, though what she was confused about I had no idea. "We have other things to worry about, Annabeth is gone!" unfortunately I wasn't sure that issue could be resolved at the current time; especially with how fast her presence had vanished from my senses.

"Whoa" the girl, one of the two children who'd been here when I arrived spoke "Hold up. Time out" she started gesturing her hands around in what I'd associate with an incredible sense of confusion. I'd say I handle confusion the same way but I generally solved it by seeing if I could hit it, as shown with the monster earlier and when a small black haired Shinigami jumped into my room through the window.

"Who….who are you people?" She questioned. If it counted for anything (I was trying to be supportive) I gave my input "I'm as confused as you are. As far as I knew before today I had a dead friend and a couple of others I hadn't spoken to in years and I was following a voice in my head that sent me here from Vegas for something that I'm still not quite..." I faltered as the feeling I'd followed from Westover Hall returned "Sure of." Whatever trail of energy I'd followed from Westover it was centred around the two siblings, how?

I stayed quiet for a bit from then, confused as to why they were what I'd been looking for. How could a pair of kids answer my question? I found no answers and just got more confused.

As I listened (after getting confused looks from the siblings and Perseus) I learned what I'd assumed before. Perseus, Thalia and the two siblings had been referred to before as 'Half-bloods' which did in fact mean the child of a regular human and a Greek god, because apparently they existed too. Wonderful.

As I listened, I learned knowledge that felt like it should've already been there. Olympian gods were still around. Thalia, (presumably) Luke and Annabeth were all children of Greek gods, and Grover was a Satyr. The monster was called Dr Thorn (apparently he'd disguised himself as a teacher) and he was a Manticore. Definitely less of a mouthful than man-lion-thing.

I think my surprise wore off enough to actually listen to the conversation a couple of minutes later when Perseus was speaking "Bianca" so that's what the girl's name was "we came here to help you. You and Nico need training to survive. Dr Thorn won't be the last monster you meet. You need to come to camp."

Camp? What camp was he talking about?

Apparently Bianca had asked the same question, to which he responded "Camp Half-Blood. It's where half-bloods can learn to survive and stuff. You can join us, stay there year round if you'd like." Jeez, if I had a boot camp to teach me how to fight Hollows I might've had better Reiatsu control.

"Sweet! Let's go!" Nico chirped enthusiastically. He was too young for this, too young to fully understand what was going on. Either that or he was really screwed up in the head. I chose the former option.

"Wait" Bianca seemed to me like the level-headed one, like she knew the implications of all of what had been said "I don't -."

"There is another option" Zoë interrupted.

"No, there isn't!" Thalia argued. I groaned. The fighting was starting to be mildly irritating and I figured what I was about to do would either get me shot or get an electric spear up my ass – maybe both. I have no idea where the electric spear idea came from though.

"Hey! How about you both stop arguing for a minute and let the girl think. Hell, with something like this you're lucking nobody's freaking out. The only reason I'm not is because I've lived through crazier stuff." They both ceased their arguing and turned to look at me, though Thalia's look turned to a pained and confused one and she diverted her gaze to the ground nearby.

Zoë looked prepared to start speaking again (maybe she'd only stopped because I was interrupting her) before Artemis spoke again (thankfully) "We've burdened these children enough. Zoë, we will rest here for a few hours. Raise the tents. Treat the wounded. Retrieve our guests' belongings from the school."

"Yes, my lady" trust a goddess to be the only thing to stop an argument.

"And Bianca, come with me. I would like to speak to you" Artemis continued. I was confused, I thought she'd stopped them arguing because she agreed they'd had enough abnormality for one night, but apparently not. I stepped forward to say something but Bianca shot me a look that said she was fine and probably that she was thankful I'd stuck out for her.

"What about me?" Nico asked. Looking at him I still felt sorry for him. He almost looked as happy as I used to be back before Mom died, to the point he'd still be happy go lucky even when he'd just been dropped into a world of gods and monsters.

Artemis responded "Perhaps you can show Grover how to play that card game you enjoy. I'm sure Grover would be happy to entertain you for a while… as a favour to me?" the fact she was brushing Nico off to distract him wasn't unnoticed by me. I got a bad feeling for the kid, but before I could do anything he'd already walked off with Grover (whom I hadn't spoken to because he kept giving me somewhat scared looks whenever he glanced near me).

Once more I leaned back against the tree. I hadn't made much of an effort to move since earlier and I needed to let my Reiatsu to recover before I tried to pull out the thorn sticking out of my side (I'd kept my hand over it so the others wouldn't worry).

I saw Perseus walk over to Thalia before he started talking, but Thalia's frustration (whether at Zoë or at the loss of Annabeth) made her angry and she yelled something before stomping off. I walked (somewhat stumbled) my way over to Perseus before placing my hand on his shoulder.

"I don't know much about who you are or what the hell is going on but I'll promise you something right now." He turned to me and I realised he was staring at a New York Yankees baseball cap that sat crumpled in his hands.

"What can a dead man promise me?" Perseus muttered miserably, though his wording confused me.

"I can promise you I'll do everything in my power to help you get Annabeth back. What did you mean by calling me a dead man?" I questioned, the promise already made.

"That's all I've ever known or been told about you. The story as I know it was Annabeth, Luke" he spat Luke's name. What had happened? "Thalia and Grover spent a long time travelling across the country to get to Camp Half-Blood. They never said much about it in great detail but at some point a mortal boy joined them in their journey to help them 'because he was their friend'. That boy was named Ichigo Kurosaki." I was confused as hell by that alone. I'd never gone with them; what journey?

I didn't interrupt, so Perseus continued "They'd been hunted relentlessly by monsters, and when they finally reached Camp they'd been swarmed. Thalia took a final stand on the hill of Camp so the others could escape. Ichigo wouldn't leave. Thalia was killed by the monsters and in her dying moments her father, Zeus, immortalised her spirit in a tree that protected Camp Half Blood. The mortal boy was taken off guard and killed by the monsters. Thalia was brought back by a magical item that brought her back to life; how did you survive?" he questioned me, ending his story.

I didn't know what to say, so I said what I knew.

"I don't remember any of that. They stayed with my family in New York for months and then left one day. A few weeks later I got a phone call from Annabeth telling me Thalia had died. My family moved back to Japan soon after." I don't remember any of what Perseus told me, so why did it sound so real?

Perseus looked confused by that, though after a minute or so he seemed to have an idea that he voiced to me "There's this thing called the Mist that hides un-normal things from mortal eyes, instead they see it as whatever they can comprehend as normal instead of mythological gods and monsters. What if somebody used the Mist to change your memories?"

I pondered it for a while. The Mist made the supernatural seem natural and yet I'd been able to see through the Mist back then, so why would it have affected me after my so called death? Then my brain spawned a similar idea, much closer to a concept I knew of. What about memory replacement that Shinigami used?

The idea stayed there but I couldn't think anything of it, and Perseus turned to face Nico and Grover when they exited the woods. Grover gave me a wary look and Nico gave me a puzzled one, like the look I'd given everything that seemed like I should know it so far to day. I had other things to worry about, so I gave Perseus a pat on the shoulder "Thanks for telling me the story Perseus. Maybe it'll help me figure stuff out easier."

He turned to me "It's just Percy, and don't forget your promise" he stated resolutely before turning to Grover. Huh, so that's what it was like talking to someone so much like me.

I spotted Thalia at the edge of the camp, ignoring the wolves as she walked past them at the treeline before she found a spot against a tree to sit and lie against it, instead tapping impatiently. That was how she was, never able to stay still. ADHD and all.

I knew how Thalia could be when she was sad. I'd seen it a lot back when they'd lived with us. Who knows how many more times I would've seen it on the journey I didn't remember. Either way, Thalia was always the strong kind, she was too proud to show weakness so she tried to hide it as much as possible. That's why I didn't give indication as she walked into the forest and I silently followed her.

Granted, it took me several minutes (and stopping to try and get a lead on her Reiatsu, which was unsurprisingly much higher than a regular human's. Clearly an indicator of her being more than human I guess) to find her again. When I finally caught up I was greeted to a sight I found somewhat familiar when she ran from her problems.

She'd wandered as far as reasonable from the camp and sat by a tree to cry, because she didn't want to seem weak in front of everybody else.

"I guess old habits die hard" I stated, seating myself on the snow covered floor against a tree opposite her.

"What do you want?" She sobbed out. I wasn't surprised, getting Thalia to talk about her problems was usually as difficult as making me acknowledge a Hollow had killed my mother before I'd encountered Grand Fisher.

"To talk, I guess" I responded. She'd get to her own point, I'd just respond until she got there.

"I mean why are you alive?"

Silence. I didn't respond.

"Months ago they brought me back and I'd found out you'd died because you were too stubborn to listen to me. I found out I'd gotten one of my best friends killed. I grieved and mourned for you. Do you know what it's like to feel something like that and have the person you felt such sadness for just show up?" I had a pretty damn good idea, I was just better at hiding it.

"You mean like waking up one day with different memories? Instead of seeing your friend fall fighting monsters remembering breaking down crying after a phone call being told they'd died? Like spending years inexplicably blaming myself for something I shouldn't have been able to change? Like coming back after years and finding out I'd had months with my friends taken from me?" I questioned repeatedly. Thalia had raised her head to stare at me directly instead of averting her gaze now, but I still had one more question.

"Like finding out the person I felt such sadness for came back?" I'd simply reversed her words. She'd only dealt with my apparent death for long enough to feel angered that it amounted to nothing, but me? I'd found out after years of self-blame that I'd get a second chance and I wouldn't have to feel the pain of knowing my friend had died and I could've done something.

She laughed before replying "Funny, you'd think with that permanent scowl you'd be the pessimist instead of the optimist. Seriously, seven years and nobody's been able to pry that thing from your face?"

I guess for once I'd felt normal again, like the same way we'd talked like this when we were twelve. I responded "People have tried, but it seems to be unkillable now"

"So… you don't remember anything from when we travelled to Camp Half-Blood?" she held a guilty gaze, like she'd affected anything.

"Not really, but I'm not sure it was the Mist. The way Percy described it the Mist shouldn't have worked well enough to erase all of that from my memory. Apart from that I have an idea how my memory was replaced but I have no idea who did it or why." I replied. I didn't like it when her gaze seemed to grow sadder again, but I'd figure out how to get my memory back.

"There's something else about you. You're different from back then." Thalia stated, like she already knew it was a fact "and another thing I want to know is why both Thorn and Lady Artemis called you those names. First 'Heaven Piercer' and then 'Lunar Fang', what do they mean?" I smiled despite the questions. Thalia questioned because she cared, I remembered that much. She could tell from the way I'd responded to the titles that it was something important to both me and whatever was going on.

"It's… complicated. The last few years of my life haven't been what you'd expect for somebody unable to remember that mythological gods and monsters existed in modern society." I replied. I'd tell them, I knew I'd have to especially seeing as whatever we were up against already knew exactly who I was.

"You mean complicated like the boy who said he could see ghosts? I doubt it's anything too far beyond what I could think of with all we'd dealt with… before." Great. The fact I couldn't remember would end up being a sore subject, wouldn't it? Luckily I remember trusting her with my secret of seeing the souls of the dearly departed so it wasn't surprising when she mentioned that.

Nor was it surprising she still thought I was joking, seeing as she'd used it to tease me like she had back then.

"Yeah… something like that." I lamely responded, making to stand up so we could return to camp. I stood and held out a hand to help her up and when she took it she pulled hard enough to launch herself straight into me, pulling me into a hug like a vice.

"Thanks for not being dead." She muttered into my shoulder. I gladly replied "You too."

Now for those of you who think that it's a great thing in cheesy movies for the usual 'reunion hug', apparently you've never asked yourself what happened after that. Thalia seemed to realise how fiercely she'd been hugging me and backed off (clearly thinking she might've broken something).

"Crap! So…rry?" she cut herself off when she realised how nonplussed I seemed that she'd pulled me into a bearhug that probably could've broken something. Then her eyes darted to the thorn still sticking out of my side and she gave me a look that pretty much meant she might kill me for not mentioning it.

"Don't worry about it Thalia, seriously." She looked alarmed when I yanked the thorn out and dropped it to the floor before Reiatsu manifested over the wound before disappearing, showing a faint scar where the thorn was once located "I think I've officially joined the 'not normal' club."

"That energy was just like that shield. What is that?" well, here goes the Ichigo Q&A, round one.

"It's a technique called Fullbring. Essentially it brings the souls out of objects and bends them to the user's desire. My power manifested my will to protect and it took the form of a shield" I answered. I didn't want to lie, but I didn't know how they'd react to the whole truth, to knowing that I'd fought wars and died and about the demon inside me.

She gave me a look that clearly showed she was unimpressed and knew I wasn't saying anything, but she also knew I didn't like keeping stuff from my friends and I would tell her eventually which was probably why she didn't press me for it.

This is what I meant about the part after the 'reunion' scene in movies. Returning to the camp pretty much devolved into random small-talk, although it did raise something else interesting.

"So how old are you now, anyway? I didn't age normally when I was… y'know. I'm older but I don't feel like I am." Thalia questioned. Small-talk might've been more awkward for others but we'd just devolve into joking at some point or another.

That was how things always worked. When things got tough (I'm talking kids picking fights, though it was probably the same with the monsters I couldn't remember) we'd always be the strong ones who'd fight to protect what we cared about. When things were calm and normal, so were we. We'd joke around or argue because we were both too stubborn to admit being wrong, or we'd just start rallying sarcastic comments at the other (which we'd practically made a game out of back then).

"Well I'm pretty sure I'd turned eighteen a month or two after I got back to the States so there's your answer. Even if it doesn't make sense, tree time or not we're still the same age." I deadpanned. Were we really that low on conversation topics?

Thalia seemed to be confused by my answer but she dropped it there, instead inquiring "So how's your family doing? Still crazy as ever?"

That got me laughing, and it got Thalia laughing too when I explained the insane crap Dad tended to do all too often.

Maybe just walking and talking like that was a relief she'd seemed to need for a while because unlike earlier she didn't seem so frustrated at Percy or worried for Annabeth, like for now at least we were just away from all of that.

That changed pretty quickly after I asked another question.

"Do you know what it was Artemis wanted to talk to Bianca about?"

She scowled, and I figured if I turned she'd be glaring at Zoë Nightshade over my shoulder. She wasn't, but her expression lightened enough for her to grudgingly answer "She's probably asking if Bianca would like to join the Hunters" I'd like to go along and agree with her that Bianca joining the Hunters was a bad idea (my gut was telling me it was) but I really had no basis to go on why that was a bad thing.

In my mouth that translated to the deadpanned "And that means…?"

She gave me a look that seemed like I should be remembering specifically why this wasn't a good conversation topic and why it made her angry but my brain drew blanks on that at every turn. At the return of the thought that I didn't remember whatever I should be remembering she clarified "One can only join the Hunters if invited, though offers can extend to any maiden of any past or race. Becoming a Hunter offers immortality unless you fall in battle and all of the Hunters are physically stronger because of its blessing."

I interjected "That still isn't really pointing out why it's a bad thing. I mean, immortality _is_ overrated but other than that and the clear fact only girls can join you aren't really highlighting…" I trailed off, realising one of her points.

"Exactly" she pointed out "She'd be leaving her brother to fend for himself. That isn't the con to becoming a Hunter of Artemis though, that's specific to Bianca. The real con is the reason they hate men so much" another reason for why Zoë didn't like me "is because to become a Hunter of Artemis is to swear off love for all of your days. To fall in love would go against their pledge to Artemis and they'd no longer be immortal." It seemed like there was something more personal to Thalia about it, but she'd respected my secrets so I'd respect hers.

Maybe it was just talking like that which made it all seem normal again, but we both fell into comfortable silence for the rest of the walk back to camp.

* * *

 **A Protector Until The End**

* * *

When we'd gotten back to camp very little was going on, which I was completely thankful for. Today had been exhausting and based on my watch I'd realised it was already into the early hours in the morning, though the sun had yet to rise.

There goes any plans I had of sleeping to rest my mind from the information overload and exhaustion. Figures.

Thalia and I crossed the camp and the Hunters continued on as if we weren't there, though I doubt they'd break routine now if they'd been doing it for centuries. I'd gone from being surrounded by one group of people who were hundreds of years older than they looked to another.

Nico and Grover were seated by a campfire in the centre of camp, with Nico still showing off his card games. I guessed he hadn't been told yet or Bianca hadn't returned from speaking with Artemis. Percy wasn't present either, though I'd guess it wasn't anything to worry about seeing as nobody else was.

When Grover looked up from his current game (in which he was inevitably losing badly) with Nico he saw me and bleated fearfully before hiding behind Nico. I was a terror to animal people everywhere, it seemed.

"Calm down, Goat Boy. He's not a ghost and he isn't here to kill you." Thalia said, greatly confusing me. Grover had a fear of ghosts, I guessed. Enough of one to get irrationally scared of me.

Grover (very reluctantly) removed himself from behind Nico and seated himself at the campfire once again before Thalia and I sat down by the fire as well. Grover turned to Nico and saw what I did; Nico once more staring at me puzzlingly.

"Who… are you?" he questioned after a minute, and the tone of his voice and lack of his previous energetic-ness caught me off guard.

"Ichigo Kurosaki. I'm an old friend of Thalia's and Grover's." I supplied. I wasn't sure if I was worried for the kid or weirded out by him right now.

"That's not what I mean!" he burst out, surprising us. He then continued "I mean I've seen you before, in dreams." Okay, definitely thinking I was weirded out by him.

"That's strange." Thalia responded, which my thoughts pretty much agreed with seeing as it just made him sound a bit off. But that didn't seem to be her point when she continued "Sometimes Half-Bloods have dreams that can show us events, but usually they happen around a quest or some kind of danger. Why would you have dreams of Ichigo?"

Nico started mumbling to himself before he pulled out a small notepad. "The dreams were never the same but I always saw you, in a black robe with a huge sword" he moved his arms around to emphasise the size of the blade before he continued "You were always fighting, but sometimes I'd hear a voice speak to me." He handed me the pad.

The notes were scribbled with occasional (and impressive, the kid had a knack for art) drawings that could've only been me back when I had powers, the detail was shocking right down to the last chain on Tensa Zangetsu's blade.

I read it aloud "Seek out the Lunar Fang" who'd appeared in his dreams to tell him this?

"Is that it?" Grover questioned lamely, though I'd stopped reading aloud when it said other titles.

"It's always the same" I began.

"But every time the voice called you something else." Nico finished, looking as spooked as I did.

Thalia took the pad from my hands and began reading "Seek out the destroyer of the Gates. Seek out the destroyer of prophecies. Seek out the protector. The list goes on." Thalia placed the pad down with the drawings in full view "What are these pictures of?"

I shifted uncomfortably but knew I had to answer "I said before my past got complicated. I wasn't joking." She looked at me and scowled when she realised I was being defiant about telling her more. Not yet, I didn't want to open that powder keg yet.

Then it dawned on me "You had dreams telling you to seek me out. I said before a voice in Vegas told me to look east for something to repay some kind of debt. I followed that feeling east and it led me to you and your sister. Maybe whoever it was wants me to protect the two of you." Perhaps that made more sense. Protecting them from the monsters that hunted them was the debt I had to repay, though it seemed to go further than that seeing as nothing had happened even after Thorn had escaped. Looked like I was going to need to look out for Nico for a while (looking out for Bianca seemed significantly harder now that she was most likely going to join the Hunters).

"Who would want you to protect me and Bianca though?" truly the tiredness seemed to be affecting his happy-go-lucky-ness when he covered his face with his hands and groaned "Why doesn't this make more sense? It'd probably be awesome if it did."

Thalia pulled me aside, far enough to be out of Nico's hearing "I get the feeling I know who it was that sent you for them. It'd have to be whoever their Olympian parent is, but why send you instead of waiting until they arrived at camp to claim them?" Ignoring the fact I didn't know exactly what claiming was I had the same question, though glancing to the side I saw Percy return to the camp looking somewhat grim. I guessed the Di Angelos' parentage would be another mystery on my list to deal with later.

And what an ever increasingly long list that was.

* * *

 **Well, there we go. More insight on to Ichigo's past involving certain characters and other revelations and –yadayadayada. Not much to say other than that.**

 **Hoping my characterization of Riordan's characters are up to standard, tell me if it's not, it'd be appreciated.**

 **Really noticing now how little I have to say in comparison to AN's I used to do.**

 **AAAND GUEST REVIEWS: seeing as I hadn't gotten around to it on previous chapters.**

Char:

Can't wait for more

 **Hope you've been satisfied so far, sorry for not actively responding to guest reviews for the past two chapters.**

Guest:

Awesome chapter. I hope you make it as good as the 'to shatter fate'. This story has a lot of potential, so I hope you would continue it.

 **Cheers, I'm hoping it's as well received as To Shatter Fate as well. As for now my main intention is to continue it. Hopefully (not definitely, but hopefully) I'll get the next chapter of TSF out soon which will kinda clarify why chapters have been slow for that recently.**

Kestes:

Hu. Normally I dont really read First-person. Dresden files notwithstanding. It's interesting to see how his human-body powers have developed. Though it seems his inner-hunger has seen fit to manifest in his shield. "Heaven-piercer" eh? Interesting

I look forward to seeing more

Cheers,  
Kes

 **Well I do hope I haven't disappointed good sir. It's a first journey into first person for me too but I enjoy writing it and it was definitely interesting to read originally in the PJO to see familiar faces even if it's a different story I'm writing.**

Guest:

Love it can't wait for more

 **Well I'm glad you enjoy it, but waiting is necessary otherwise you'd get half-written unproofread garbage :P**

Guest:

I like it. Please continue with the story

 **Glad ya like it and here ya go :D**

 **Well I hope people enjoyed the chapter, reviews are appreciated as always.**

 **See ya next time :D**


	5. Stupidity On A Godly Level

**We're at a point where I've run out of funny or sarcastic ways to give disclaimers. I don't own Bleach or Percy Jackson. I'm a certified 'MEH' at writing – I'm not nearly THAT good.**

* * *

 **A Protector Until The End: Chapter 5: Apparently You Don't Have To Be A Mortal To Be A Moron**

* * *

We made our way over to Percy pretty quickly when he'd popped up, and it was only then that I'd realised while we'd been speaking with Nico the Hunters had taken down the camp around us as quickly as they'd first set it up (not that I could easily compare how well they'd set it up because I was half-blind at the time).

I pulled my coat closer around me once more. I really should've worn more thermals (a black long-sleeved shirt and a pair of jeans under a coat wasn't the best call for winter). Maybe after the few experiences I've had with ice Zanpakuto I thought I'd be better at dealing with the cold, but not enough to not feel it.

Frankly I was wondering what those parkas the Hunters wore were made of, because they seemed completely ignorant to any of the weather.

Artemis stood at the edge of camp, watching the sky expectantly. I couldn't guess much more than that by looking at her. Did the power the Gods wielded make them truly the most powerful beings? Maybe that was why it didn't feel like standing in front of Aizen's level of power around Artemis; the Gods were on an entirely different plane – like a fourth dimensional being surrounded by third dimensional beings. That was the only thing I could liken it to, and another part of my brain wondered if that meant they were all as strong as Aizen and I had become, if not stronger.

As we crossed the camp towards Percy I saw Bianca approach from the side – wearing a brand new parka and possessing a glow to her skin like all of the Hunters did, one that radiated the power they'd been granted. Bianca walked to us, I'd assume intent on telling Nico what decision she'd just made to _abandon_ him. I scowled at the thought (and at Bianca) and she faltered before diverting her gaze away from me and steering her brother away to speak to him without the rest of us around.

Bianca was young; I had to keep remembering that. That fact alone was probably the only thing keeping me from going mental – older siblings were meant to protect their younger siblings, no exceptions. Bianca had forsaken that, and it made me angry.

Maybe that was my duty – Bianca hadn't mentioned having dreams or visions involving me – maybe I was meant to protect Nico because he'd have nobody when his sister left.

We reached Percy and stood around him, waiting to hear what had happened when he was speaking with Artemis (which also answered my question of where he'd gone off to before).

Percy was about to speak when Thalia elbowed me in the gut. I turned to her "What was that for?"

"You're doing that thing where you get angry and glare at everything." She said, chuckling before continuing "You were right, I guess old habits do die hard" she laughed, and I couldn't blame her. Anger intensified the scowl was practically a note she'd always warned other people of when we were younger.

That distraction done; Percy began to speak, though he stopped mid-sentence and I answered his unasked question so he'd get to the point "It's orange. I get it. No, it isn't dyed; it is my natural hair colour. Now _drop it_ and get back to what you were telling us" no offense to Percy, but people seriously needed to get over the surprise of somebody with my hair colour.

Percy told us what happened. Artemis had listened to what Thorn had said and she planned on going to hunt some powerful beast. While she did that she'd be sending the Hunters to Camp Half-Blood with her twin, the Sun God Apollo.

Grover paled at the explanation "The last time the Hunters visited Camp," he shuddered, continuing "it didn't go well" I'd imagine so. I think it wouldn't go well for them to go anywhere if a male was within a mile radius.

"How did they even show up here?" Percy questioned "I mean, they just appeared out of nowhere" Not like I could input on that, where I came from we pretty much had sensors for monster attacks.

"And Bianca _joined_ them" Thalia continued, and her tone pretty much furthered the point she really didn't like the Hunters "It's all Zoë's fault. That stuck up, no good -." And it further proved her dislike for Zoë (in which I couldn't blame her. Our first encounter didn't make me a fan of her either).

"Who can blame her?" Grover interjected. "Eternity with Artemis?" he heaved an over-dramatized sigh.

Thalia rolled her eyes (so did I) "You satyrs. You're all in love with Artemis. Don't you get that she'll never love you back?"

I continued "Pretty ironic they'd all chose to fall in love with the one Goddess who is against falling in love. Ironic or stupid I guess."

At my interjection into the conversation Percy sent me a look, saying "That was the other thing she mentioned." He started "Artemis said it'd be safer if you came to Camp as well, but we don't know if you'll be able to pass through the barrier around camp."

I deadpanned in response, questioning "If you thought I didn't already intend on coming with you guys then why would I still be here?"

"Oh, uh, right." Percy responded, continuing "another thing she said was to watch out for her brother when you're around him." Why did this sound like it was just a suggestion for _me_ in particular? "I don't really get why, all of Apollo's kids at camp are cool guys but for some reason she wouldn't explain her brother isn't particularly fond of you."

For my part, I gave the most obvious response in the situation "I'm still questioning why any of them know who the hell I am in the first place, seeing as nobody seems interested in explaining it to me"

Confused silence fell among us after that, looks like none of them had any idea either.

Percy wandered off after that, perhaps to ask Artemis why we were all standing around pointlessly. I figured it'd just be a case of waiting for whatever was going to take us to camp.

I glanced to the side and spoke to Thalia "You're staring at me again" she blushed and punched me in the arm.

"Hey, it's not like I could see very well back when it was still dark. I wanted to see what the years made of the scrawny kid that'd pick a fight against someone a lot bigger than him. What's up with that scar?" I looked and realised that the low collar on my shirt showed a bit of a scar. One look was all it took to know that the scar she'd spoke of sat just below my collar bone and reached up to be just in view. The scar was one of the ones I'd received in my first encounter with Byakuya Kuchiki.

"I guess you could say I still tend to pick fights against stronger opponents to say the least" Thalia gave me a puzzled look, like she'd realised this meant I'd either been getting into some pretty dangerous street fights or that I really was telling a lot less than I should've been. Most likely more the latter given the pictures Nico had shown.

A burst of light over the horizon cut off our conversation. When I was about to look Artemis (as she'd probably predicted some of us might've looked) ordered "Don't look. Not until he parks"

Overall assumptions of the day? The Sun God already didn't like me, apparently the mythology about him riding the sun around the world was actually true, and that we were waiting for the Sun God to park. We were waiting for the Sun God to park the goddamn sun.

Mythology: 3 – Sanity: 0

The burning light I'd quickly averted my eyes from also brought with it an intensifying heat the resulted in me unceremoniously dropping my coat to the floor. A moment later and the light died away – the heat lessened a bit but when I went to pick my coat back up it was sitting on a bed of grass, drenched in water (the heat had melted the snow and I'd essentially dumped my coat in a puddle, so I left it).

Ignoring my coat and the brand new circle of revealed (and soaked) grass, what attracted my gaze was the glowing red convertible in the middle of it.

The driver got out, and for a second I'd been blinded by his goddamn _teeth_. The guy looked around my age with sandy hair, he was maybe an inch or two taller than me and was wearing jeans and loafers and a sleeveless T-shirt.

The only people who'd smile wider than this guy were Shinji Hirako and Kenpachi Zaraki. The thought alone made me shudder.

"Wow. Apollo is hot" Thalia muttered. Figures.

"Wanted to see what the years had made of that scrawny kid my ass" I retorted. Thalia tended to be this way when we were twelve too – a little too distracted by guys. Though it was funny when it came to embarrassing her about it when she'd say stuff like that a little _too_ loudly, this was the main point of my comment in response.

When I glanced to the side she'd turned to look away with her arms crossed over her chest. I considered that a victory for my part – she was usually always the one with a witty retort.

"Little sister!" Apollo (?) called out "What's up? You never call. You never write. I was getting worried!" Oh dear lord. It was like if you combined the overall stupidity of Dad, Kisuke and Keigo into one personality.

Artemis sighed (apparently I wasn't the only one used to this kind of behaviour) "I'm fine, Apollo. And I am not your little sister"

"Hey, I was born first."

"We're twins! How many millennia do we have to argue-?" Apparently siblings _could_ bicker for eternity.

"So what's up?" Apollo interrupted. "Got the girls with you, I see. You all need some tips on archery?" I understood why Artemis seemed to be getting irritated. Apollo radiated the kind of personality that it'd take millennia to learn how to deal with. Evidently Artemis still hadn't figured it out yet.

"I need a favour" Artemis responded "I have some hunting to do, _alone._ I need you to take my companions to Camp Half-Blood."

Luckily, Apollo's happy personality also seemed to mean he was friendly enough to give favours when he responded "Sure, sis!" then he raised his hands in a gesture of halting everything and I thought something was coming.

I promptly facepalmed when he said "I feel a haiku coming on."

When the Hunters all groaned the fact my ability to tolerate this had come to an end when I muttered "You've got to be kidding me."

Instinct took over from then when I moved to one side and an arrow flew past my head. I turned and saw the God of the Sun glaring at me. Great, because I needed more people to dislike me.

"You're asking me to give _him_ a ride sis, seriously? You know how much I hate that guy!" he almost looked like he was going to start stomping around about it or possibly just try and shoot me again.

Percy tapped my arm and said "You should probably apologise for whatever reason he doesn't like you for." I was about to retort that I hadn't done anything apart from show my exasperation a little louder than everyone else before Percy continued "Gods get offended easily, and they aren't very helpful when they're offended." He had a tone of urgency, but I couldn't compare seeing as I'd never witnessed how much power Olympians wielded.

"Brother" Artemis responded "I am asking you to give a ride for the Hunters and some of Chiron's campers, who are being accompanied by the Lunar Fang. I'd ask you please not try and kill him again."

"It's not like you have a reason to hate him. His powers are directly connected to the moon, it's in the title; LUNAR Fang. You don't know what it's like being the God of Prophecy and having to deal with somebody who _breaks_ prophecies!" If the way the temperature kept increasing as he argued was anything to go by, I'd agreed with Percy by that point – even if it meant swallowing a bit of pride.

I also chose to file away the bit of info about me 'breaking prophecies' for later.

"Hey!" I called out, interrupting the argument. Both Gods gazes turned to me, Artemis in warning and Apollo in anger. I walked to the Sun God and swallowed the rest of my pride. If I was going to make this convincing I guessed I'd have to be sincere about it, and Gods tended to radiate an Aura that seemed almost regal.

I kneeled, ignoring the soaked ground soaking my jeans.

" _Lord_ Apollo, I'm sorry for whatever it is I may have done to offend you." I was as sincere as I could be, which was a lot for somebody who didn't hold back with the truth. I didn't want a God hating me, for some reason my mind rang out that it was always a bad thing in Mythology to be on a god's bad side.

Apollo looked down at me "Oh for the love of -." He was cut off by the heated glare of his sister. He made a few fidgeting noises like he didn't want to accept before finally conceding. "Apology accepted. It takes a lot to apologise to someone you don't know for something you don't know you did, doesn't it?"

"What did Ichigo do to offend you, Lord Apollo?" Thalia didn't have nearly as much trouble as I did calling him 'lord' the guy was almost idiotic enough to be a jester in a court – he didn't seem powerful or regal enough to be a lord.

"Thalia, right? I've heard all about you." Apollo began, Thalia blushed at the praise but couldn't respond before he continued "Zeus's girl, yes? Makes you my half-sister. Used to be a tree, didn't you? Glad you're back. I hate it when pretty girls turn into trees. Man, I remember one time -." The continual rambling made me think he should've been the god of exactly that, but Artemis cut him off.

"Brother. She asked you a question, and keep in mind you should be going relatively soon." Considering Apollo looked eighteen and Artemis looked twelve you'd think he should've been the mature one. I guess not.

"Oh, right!" he hit his fist into his open palm "Your friend here" he began, and I guess he had calmed down seeing as his tone carried significantly less venom than it had previously.

"He tends to deny all logic seeing as he should've died" Apollo started raising fingers and muttering "One, Fisher. Two, Camp. Three, Shinigami. Four, Shinigami again. Five, Hollow. Six – a lot, okay. He should've died a lot." Considering the fact his muttering had turned into all out complaining that he'd kept count of how many times I'd nearly died I'm glad he didn't really give enough information to outright tell my friends about my past.

"Except for some reason, every single time he survived and because of it he _broke_ a prophecy" again with the prophecies – I didn't know what they were.

Though for some reason the concept of me breaking a prophecy seemed to be some massive thing from the looks I was being given.

"I still don't get what you're-." He cut me off midsentence.

"The betrayer would gain a power to rival a God and try to lay claim to the Heavens. Sound familiar? It should." Upon my surprised look he continued "He gained the power to rival a god, but he never got as far as laying claim to anything because he was cut down." He was vague, but I knew immediately what he was speaking of. He was talking about me defeating Aizen; saying it was never meant to happen. That led to another question though, hadn't I done the gods a favour by defeating Aizen, saving them a battle with an enemy of his level?

"Brother" Artemis interrupted, chiding him that we should've been departing.

"Oh, right" Apollo ignored me after that, and set his gaze on Percy "Percy Jackson?"

"Yeah. I mean… yes, sir." Percy took his own lesson about respect to Gods, though Apollo said nothing.

After a tense minute of silence he spoke "Well! We'd better load up, huh? Ride only goes one way – west. And if you miss it, you miss it." Well if the convertible was meant to be the Sun I'd be concerned if we could suddenly ride it in any direction – would've been a global warming nightmare.

Speaking of the convertible, how the hell were about twenty of us going to fit in a two-seated convertible?

"Cool car" Nico said, though his enthusiasm seemed quieter after speaking with Bianca. I stepped towards him and placed a hand on his shoulder. He looked at me and we didn't say anything. It was simply my way of telling him I'd be there if he needed me. I removed my arm and went back to where I stood before, receiving an understanding look from Thalia.

"Thanks, kid." Apollo responded. Thank god (or would it be gods?) that he wasn't some kind of car maniac who'd suddenly start going on and on about his ride.

"But how will we all fit?" Nico asked. At least he seemed to be distracting himself or just voicing his childish curiosity. If anything that was a good thing, a reminder he was still just a kid.

"Oh" Apollo looked disappointed when he realised the same issue "Well I hate to change it out of sports-car mode, but I suppose…" he brought out a pair of car keys and beeped the security alarm button – the kind with the dumb noise.

The car glowed brightly and was replaced with a minibus not unlike the kind a school would use. "Right" Apollo continued "Everybody on."

Zoë and the other hunters started grabbing their packs and equipment to load it onto the bus. Zoë picked hers up and Apollo said "Here, sweetheart. Let me get that" if anything it was like watching Keigo try to flirt, or at least it had the same result.

Zoë recoiled and almost reached for an arrow. It would've been funny if she did seeing as it'd be amusing to watch her get into a fight with Apollo. I'm not denying being spiteful because they both almost shot me.

"Brother," Artemis chided "You do not help my Hunters. You do not look at, talk to, or flirt with my Hunters. And you do _not_ call them sweetheart." Future note: a goddess exists that looks like a twelve year old but is scarier than Unohana. The thought alone made me shudder.

Apollo held his hands up in mock surrender like Shunsui did when his lieutenant scolded him "Sorry. I forgot. Hey, sis, where are you off to, anyway?"

"Hunting" Artemis said. "It's none of your business." If what Percy said was true, she was going off alone to hunt some powerful beast Thorn and his employers were after.

"I'll find out. I see all. Know all." Just what the world needed; someone who could tell what a fortune cookie could say before opening it _and_ who could tell you it wouldn't come true.

Artemis snorted "Just drop them off, Apollo. And no messing around!" So I had immaturity on a godly level to look forward to, great.

"No, no! I never mess around." If Artemis' immediate eye roll in response was indication he _definitely_ messed around.

Artemis addressed her Hunters "I will see you by winter solstice. Zoë, you are in charge of the Hunters. Do well. Do as I would." Because Nightshade needed a goddess to inflate her holier-than-thou attitude.

Artemis knelt to the ground then rose, muttering something before sprinting off into the woods before the shadows consumed her from view.

Apollo grinned, jangling the car keys "So, who wants to drive?"

As everyone piled into the van I waited before taking a seat close to the front, dropping myself in a seat behind the driver's seat.

The Hunters all grouped together at the back away from anything male, Bianca with them. Nico bounced up and down on the driver's seat, practically having the time of his life knowing he was playing around in the sun. "This is so cool!" he exclaimed, continuing "Is this really the sun? I thought Helios and Selene were the sun and moon gods. How come sometimes it's them and sometimes it's you and Artemis?" He'd completely lost me there. I wasn't very good with mythology at all; I just remembered a few things (though from where I wasn't entirely sure).

"Downsizing" Apollo replied "The Romans started it. They couldn't afford all those temple sacrifices, so they laid off Helios and Selene and folded their duties into our job descriptions. My sis got the moon. I got the sun. It was pretty annoying at first, but at least I got this cool car."

"How does that work? I'm pretty sure high school physics wouldn't agree with anything about the sun being a convertible." I said, my ability to understand this crap waning with every confusing thing that happened (I really needed to sleep at some point so this could seem a little less confusing).

"Bah! Mortal rumours. Sis used to call me a big fiery ball of gas, so you mortals probably made it from there. A lot of it is just astronomy versus philosophy. Astronomy calls it a big fiery ball of gas but the way people think of it? That's more interesting. They've got a lot riding on the sun… er, so to speak. It keeps them warm, grows their crops, powers engines, and makes everything look, well, sunnier. This chariot is built out of human dreams about the sun, kid. It's as old as Western Civilization. Every day, it drives across the sky from east to west, lighting up all those puny little mortal lives. The chariot is a manifestation of the sun's power, the way mortals perceive it. Make sense?" I could think of many ways he'd just confused me – human dreams of the sun, Western Civilization, this was apparently a chariot, etcetera.

Apparently Nico was on the same train when we both replied "Nope."

Apollo responded "Well then just think of it as a really powerful, really dangerous, solar car." That was simple enough for me to understand, though the powerful, dangerous solar car part was proven when he'd parked (almost blinding and burning us in the process).

Unfortunately, Nico followed that train of thought by asking "Can I drive?" If Apollo let him drive I was grabbing as many people as possible before this thing took off. I was not dying because of the Sun God of irresponsibility.

"No. Too young" Apollo replied simply. So I wasn't going to die because he let a ten year old drive; at least that was somewhat reassuring.

Nico didn't seem have an issue with that, getting out of the driver's seat to sit somewhere else on the bus. Neither did he seem to outwardly have an issue with his sister not staying with him and sat on the other side of the bus across from me. He smiled to me even if it looked strained.

I looked among the assembled Hunters and Percy's group and gave my input "I'm pretty sure I'm the only one here who actually has a license."

Apollo gave me an appraising look like he was deciding if I was worthy to drive his car before he responded "No. Too orange." I'm pretty sure the embarrassed outrage was the reason I'd flushed in embarrassment – which was probably why Thalia was laughing at me.

Though that seemed to make her an available candidate for Apollo "Daughter of Zeus, Lord of the Sky. Perfect."

"Oh, no." Thalia declined "No thanks."

I felt like I should know a specific reason why Thalia driving wasn't a good idea but I was drawing blanks.

"C'mon" Apollo responded "How old are you?"

Thalia faltered because she didn't know, and I realised maybe I was luckier to have only lost my memory – no, I was definitely luckier to have only lost my memory.

"I don't know" she answered.

Apollo tapped his finger against his lips a few times before replying "You're fifteen, almost sixteen." The almost was probably because it should've been her birthday in a week if I was remembering correctly.

"How do you know that?" Thalia questioned, though at least she seemed relieved to actually know her own age.

"Hey, I'm the God of Prophecy. I know stuff. You'll turn sixteen-."

"In a week." I cut him off absentmindedly – I'd zoned out into my own thoughts but I wasn't sure if it was appreciative or happy or something like that but that was the kind of look I got from Thalia in response. "December twenty-second, right?"

Thalia nodded and looked as if she was about to question me remembering her birthday when Apollo spoke again "Which means you're old enough now to drive with a learner's permit!" Apollo really didn't seem to understand the point that Thalia had originally declined his offer.

Thalia shifted nervously and I seriously got the feeling I should've been remembering something important right now.

"I know what you're going to say. You don't deserve an honour like driving the sun chariot." Well I'm glad humanity was convinced the sun was a big fiery ball of gas. Better to think that than believe the sun to be a giant flying moron.

"Apollo" I raised my voice and he turned to me.

"You can take turns if you really want to drive that badly." Oh for crying out – I voiced my irritation in my next question.

"Can't you just drive your own damn chariot?" I'd gone from my earlier apology to flat out insulting his ride – if he was like some car enthusiasts I may as well have just disrespected him.

Luckily, he didn't seem to take it as an insult when he smirked and responded "It'd be less fun that way. Maine to Long Island is a really short trip anyway. Plus, she's Zeus's kid, it's not like he'll blast us out of the sky if she's driving." He seemed convinced that was a good enough argument and sat Thalia in the driver's seat (I was pretty sure I'd made a good choice to sit up front now).

I sat in my seat and scowled at the God at every opportunity, but he'd rebuked every one of Thalia's protests and flicked the 'student driver' sign before telling Thalia "Take it away! You're gonna be a natural!"

* * *

 **A Protector Until The End**

* * *

Thalia was most certainly _not_ a natural and I wish I'd realised that sooner.

I still blame Apollo for being irresponsible enough to let a first time driver drive the sun opposed to somebody who'd actually had driving experience (and a license, but apparently they didn't count for shit in his brain).

Maybe I was slightly jealous that Thalia's first attempt at driving was in a vehicle that could manage over fifty miles per hour without a guaranteed breaking down afterwards.

That was when I acknowledged I'd left my car at Westover Hall… with all of my stuff in it.

" _Shit_ " I muttered in Japanese, mostly because Nico was sitting across from me.

"Speed equals heat" Apollo advised "So start slowly, and make sure you've got a good altitude before you really open her up." He still sounded too enthusiastic about this. God of impulsive morons maybe? As long as his children were 'cool guys' as Percy had said before and they didn't manage to piss me off or hate me on sight I was fine.

I was fine but Thalia really didn't look like she wanted to be in that driver's seat (and although she'd give me a glance as if to say 'thank you for trying, _again_ ' every time I'd try to tell Apollo otherwise I'd seriously given up at this point. It was like telling Renji to stop using Kido over and over again and expecting it not to blow up in his face).

"What's wrong?" Percy asked her, and I was asking myself the same question and my memory was still pulling blanks.

"Nothing" Thalia replied quickly, her voice betraying every emotion I'd come to associate with _Thalia_. "N-nothing is wrong" Thalia almost sounded… scared. Shit, I know I should've been picking up something here but I just couldn't think of it!

Then Thalia yanked the wheel backwards and I was forced to sit back in my seat, regardless of any objections I may have had. Though it seemed I wasn't the only one caught off balance if the sounds of crashing and cries of surprise throughout the bus were any indication.

"Sorry!" Thalia apologised "I've got it under control!" The panic in her voice completely disagreed with her statement, as did the smoking ring of trees that could've been glimpsed out of the window and as could the fact she really wasn't doing a great job of driving.

"Thalia" Percy interjected "Lighten up on the accelerator." Either he was speaking out of self-preservation or even he'd had experience driving.

"I've got it, Percy" Thalia forced out through grit teeth. Okay, I get she was angry with him for whatever reason but getting pissed off while having a breakdown in an air-born bus with the power of the sun really wasn't the best idea as far as I thought of it.

I interjected "Calm down for a second and think, don't worry about it. You might want to take a left though; Long Island is the other way." I was trying to be helpful (and comforting, if this got worse I'd be taking the wheel no matter what Apollo said).

"Calm? Easy to say when you aren't the one driving the damn _sun_ , Ichigo!" She retorted, and for the second she was distracted it looked like she'd actually gotten the hang of driving. Then when she stopped talking she went rigid again. Damn it, what the hell was going on with her? I didn't remember ever seeing her act like that.

* * *

 **A Protector Until The End**

* * *

 _Annabeth and Grover had been the first to get over the bridge. Where we were and why we were there was lost to my memory but I saw Luke run ahead to keep up with them._

 _The rope bridge shook precariously and I slid the bronze short-sword from its sheath on my hip. They'd be close and we'd have to be ready for a fight._

" _I-Ichigo" Thalia's voice choked out. She'd been right behind me when we stepped onto the bridge – We'd been in such a worried rush I'd been pulling her to keep up._

 _I turned and looked into her eyes. Electric blue orbs that once held such defiant strength were frozen in fear. Her skin had paled she looked as white as the ghosts I'd seen – the ones that couldn't pass on after a monster had eaten them like a morsel or done worse to them – spirits frozen to the living world for eternity because they'd never find peace._

 _Her eyes kept darting to the sides – to the strained ropes that held the bridge, and I realised what was wrong._

" _We aren't gonna fall, okay?" I promised "I promised I'd help you guys get all the way to Camp, didn't I? A fear of heights isn't going to stop that." I'd taken her hand and guided myself backwards using the rope. We were almost across, just a few more seconds._

 _I'd noticed Grover's calls of warning and Annabeth's fearful cry far too late. The Laistrygonian Giant – eight foot sacks of muscle, bad breath with yellow teeth and an unending hunger for human flesh – charged ahead of the horde of monsters following us, barrelling straight onto the bridge._

 _I'd reacted instinctually. I gave Thalia the strongest pull I could and turned to try and make the rest of the distance between where I'd stood and the other end of the bridge. The bridge snapped under the Giant's weight (I never said they were smart) and the entire thing collapsed._

 _Thalia gave a panicked cry the moment I'd distracted her from her panic, just in time to watch me not reach the other side of the bridge in time._

" _Don't let go!" Luke commanded with defiance towards letting any of us die in his eyes._

" _I wasn't planning on it" I dryly commented as he pulled me onto the edge._

* * *

 **A Protector Until The End**

* * *

"She just has to learn to – WHOA!" Apollo's voice was the first I heard when I'd snapped out of my stupor. If you couldn't tell, that didn't necessarily make me very happy. What can I say, if a guy sends you enough death glares and nearly kills you on first meeting, you tend not to want that person to be the first you hear after blacking out.

I'd remembered something. It was barely there and I'd felt like a lot of details were missing, but it was there. I had gone with them after they left. If that was true, then how much else of what I'd been told was true? Had I actually –

That train of thought died when I saw the smouldering town we'd just flown over, plumes of smoke and a seared (almost melting) church roof. I looked forward and could see Thalia's pale terrified face in the mirror.

I didn't think Gods were omniscient but you'd think Apollo would've had enough forethought to check whether the person he'd chosen to drive was acrophobic or not.

Without further reason for delay (I should've done something sooner but hadn't in case I'd piss off Apollo without Artemis around to cover for me) I leaned forward over the chair, hooking my left arm around Thalia (I needed something to hold on to so I didn't face-plant over the seat) while I put my right hand around the wheel.

"Don't focus on anything else. Nobody's falling and we aren't about to crash a flying bus." I whispered. I wasn't sure if I was being very good at calming her but distracting her would be enough that she'd loosen her grip.

"I can't tell if you're trying to assure yourself or me" she responded, and I let a small smile appear on my face the same way she did. My intention came true and her grip loosened enough that I managed to turn the wheel and steer us away from the town (which a wind swept into the moment we'd gotten far enough away, extinguishing any fires caused).

Apollo tapped my shoulder before pointing towards a blurred image in the distance, like a rippling image that distorted my view of part of the bay. Apollo said "That's where were headed. Long Island, Camp Half-Blood to be exact" looked like even he could take a hint.

I whispered back to Thalia "Maybe I'm trying to assure us both. I'm pretty sure falling off a collapsing bridge is about as fun as watching your friend fall off a collapsing bridge." Thalia turned to me fully at that, and I had to work my best at steering us towards where Apollo had pointed while hoping Thalia didn't absentmindedly floor it.

I knew my face had heated up and I'd started blushing when I realised how close we were (I'd pretty much had my head on her shoulder while I tried to steer and I really think it would've been easier if I'd taken the opportunity to displace her from the driver's seat). Thalia was clearly surprised by what I'd said "What – How? I thought you couldn't remember?"

We couldn't have been too far off, a minute or two maybe – either way the rippling image was much closer now, and I was vaguely making out images through it, like the Mist around camp was clearing the closer we got.

"Well" I said "I guess wondering why you were having an acrophobic panic attack made me remember another time – which made it more obvious you were having an acrophobic panic attack." I'm still kicking myself over this today. Life advice – if you want to distract somebody from having a panic attack don't remind them why they're having a panic attack.

Thalia's foot may as well have turned to lead, with how hard she dropped it on the accelerator. The camp, which now had come into full view for me (though I was a little preoccupied to look at it right now) was only a few hundred metres away when Thalia slammed the accelerator.

Relieved passengers quickly became panicked ones at the sudden increase in speed and Apollo yelled out "BRAKES!" in alarm.

Well, he got his wish when the sudden speed had launched me head-first over Thalia and into the brake. Don't ask me how, I just remember that my arm was bent at a very uncomfortable angle and the brake (while it had been pushed down) was sticking into my back. Either way, the bus had stopped about a meter above the ground and Apollo quickly acted, removing the keys and stopping the engine.

Unfortunately that also seemed to turn gravity back on when the bus dropped the remaining meter and the brake further lodged itself into my back.

Well, I'd had worse landings.

* * *

 **Well, another week, another shitload of inspiration birthing another chapter. Here you guys finally get to see the briefest of glimpses into how the PJO world is being blended with Bleach – only barely.**

 **Teehee, I like foreshadowing and giving you guys questions you'd want to find out the answers to :P**

 **Also, up to 80 favourites already! Cheers to you guys for supporting the story, knowing there are a big bunch of people who like reading what you write does miracles for inspiration.**

 **Guest reviews:**

Kestes:

Ya, your characterisation of Riordan's creations are pretty accurate from what I'm reading. I like it! Looks like Hades is directly reaching out to his kids in more direct ways to protect them. It's funny how Hades was genuinely a good father (mostly) in the books - arguably the best of the Big Three.

 **Yep, nice to see I'm portraying characters all right then :D**

 **Anyway, INSERT REQUEST FOR REVIEWS HERE, support and criticism is always appreciated, see ya next time!**


	6. I Visit A Summer Camp In Winter

**NOTICE TO READERS OF TO SHATTER FATE – Sorry there still hasn't been another chapter, I'm going to try and write more of it at some point but inspiration is a fleeting and hard to grab little cunt right now. Hopefully at the latest Volume 6 will give me inspiration to write.**

 **Anyway, onto matters regarding THIS story.**

 **I wonder if I can just go from having a written disclaimer to a phone number that brings a guy to your house and slaps you with a sign that says DISCLAIMER in neon lights. My brain is a crazy place when it isn't making story ideas.**

* * *

 **A Protector Until The End: Chapter Six: I Visit a Winter Summer Camp**

* * *

Well, I was happier than I'd ever been to know we were at least on the ground now. I'd never had issues with air travel, but then those issues would've been caused by being on a plane.

Lessons learned from the experience? Never let an acrophobic first time driver drive a flying bus full of people – especially when said bus went faster than most planes would.

Unfortunately, my happiness stopped there; seeing as every movement wedged the brake further into my back. My unhappiness also invoked slight annoyance when Apollo herded everyone else off the bus bar Thalia and was helping them retrieve their luggage. Though the thought of luggage reminded me I didn't have anything other than the clothes on my back, my combat pass and whatever was in my pockets; seeing as I'd left the rest in my car – back in Bar Harbour.

More spiteful thoughts reminded me that maybe Apollo would get shot if he tried to help the Hunters again, and that would be amusing for me.

Thalia leaned forward from the driver's seat and hooked her arm around my shoulder to try and pull me free, though with everyone else outside the bus it left us in relative (uncomfortable or awkward) silence.

"How were you able to remember?" Thalia broke the silence "I mean – do you remember everything else?" I saw nervousness in her eyes – I'd supposedly died back then. Maybe she thought if I remembered it I'd blame her or something.

"No idea" I replied "I only remembered a bit – crossing a bridge and pushing you across when the Giant broke it, before getting caught by Luke. It ended there" I had the nagging question in my mind accompanying that – where was Luke? Had something happened to him, too?

If I were to describe what I remembered of my friendship with Luke Castellan when they stayed with us (or in my memories that seemed to have everything mythological omitted), I'd say my friendship with him wasn't unlike my friendship with Uryu or Renji. We'd argue and fight but we were great friends – and even greater rivals.

"Oh" was Thalia's lacklustre reply. I knew she was disappointed or something along those lines that I hadn't remembered more, but I felt the same. Seeing her reaction I said "Don't sweat it. I'll remember eventually. Sometimes stuff like this just takes a stupid amount of time" I could point out other things that had taken a stupid amount of time in my life – crossing Hueco Mundo, the time after I lost my powers, crossing the US, etcetera.

She chuckled "I guess when I first found out you didn't remember I was afraid." she said the word 'afraid' like it was something she never wanted to say out loud, which I understood.

"You were afraid I'd be different. That whoever I was when I'd travelled with you guys would've been replaced by someone who wanted nothing to do with it" I stopped, before elaborating "a version of me completely different from how you remembered me."

Her gaze softened, and when I thought she was going to reply she pulled my shoulder, dislodging me from the foot well, and almost giving me whiplash with how far forward I'd been jerked.

"Ouch!" I exclaimed – I'd kneed myself in the jaw "What the hell was that for?!"

She smirked "You always used to say I'd never be able to surprise you with anything – I've wanted to prove you wrong on that for years" I laughed. Thalia offered her hand and I took it (luckily this time when someone was pulled up it didn't end in a bear hug).

"Well?" I asked.

"Well what?" she responded confusedly, and I guess she'd gotten distracted from the original topic.

"Have I really changed that much?" I asked. She'd planted that curiosity in me, too; had journeying with them changed me – if I remembered what I'd gone through then would I still be the same me today?

"Same orange hair, same near-permanent scowl, same attitude. I'd say as far as I've seen you're almost the same." She interrupted herself to flick away the hair that hung in my vision "Could do with a haircut though." Talking like this made everything feel _easier_. Just talking and bantering and making jokes and snarky comments like we had back then – I'd never realised how much I'd missed it.

As for the hair comment though, I'd have to agree. It hadn't been cut for months and probably was pretty reminiscent of how long it had been when I'd faced Aizen.

"You almost done or do we need a crowbar to get Kurosaki out?" Apollo's voice called – and I'd realised how much attention _I hadn't_ been paying to time.

Thalia seemed to as well, and turned to exit the bus before stopping. When I'd halted to ask what was wrong she said "Ichigo… I think your gothy emblem thing is talking." My _what?_

She turned to me, holding my Combat Pass in hand except the pass was different. The usual blackened sockets of the eyes of the would-be skull flashed yellow, like they once had in the presence of a Hollow.

Gingerly (irony considering it wasn't me) she held the pass up, and I did in fact realise I could hear voices, but the audio was choppy and full of static.

" _How could"_ the audio cut for a second before continuing _"lost him!"_ the audio cut once more, andI absentmindedly voiced my own disbelief at who I believed that voice belonged to "Renji…?" I muttered.

" _Not that simple"_ another voice spoke _"Missing… out of our scanning capabilities… on another plane, one Shinigami mustn't interfere with."_ Was that Kisuke? That was definitely his voice, though the only part that came through clearly was about a 'plane' that Shinigami weren't supposed interfere with. Though what that meant left me baffled.

Though before any questions could be answered, the sound cut once more and died completely, along with the glowing eyes of the badge. I glared at the pass for a few moments, hoping it would spark to life instead of just giving me more unanswered questions… unfortunately the stupid piece of wood (I think it was wood) had other ideas.

Unsatisfied at the unclearness of what I'd just heard, I stuffed the badge into my pocket before facing Thalia, who had her hands crossed over her chest and was giving me a look that essentially said 'Well? Or is this just another thing you're going to sidestep?'

I shrugged in irritation "Not a damn clue. It's never done that before."

She gave an annoyed sigh and turned to leave wordlessly and I figured she thought I was hiding stuff again. I grabbed her arm and she turned to look me in the eye.

That was _definitely_ the annoyed Thalia look I remembered, though I said what I wanted to say regardless "I know I've been vague with what's gone on for the last couple of years for me. It's just that it's hard to talk about, okay? I promise you I'll tell you _everything_. Just not right now."

She sighed, the same way she'd always do that pretty much was a wordless 'okay' or 'thank you for admitting you've done something wrong, everything is fine now'. Either way, we both stepped off of the bus (I hoped I'd never get on it again – the sun bus, though public transport was in its own league of a very shitty experience).

"About time you two hurried up." Apollo complained when we stepped off, though his whining didn't seem complete "The Hunters already left for their cabin and Percy already left with Nico, and I have a schedule to keep!" and he was glaring at me like I was the issue again. Figures Thalia would get better treatment (he seemed to irrationally hate me yet held nothing against Thalia for nearly crashing the sun).

Though before he'd start getting angry or perhaps start turning me into different animals (or maybe he'd just start shooting me), his personality did a total one-eighty again when he tapped his watch, had a panicked expression and hopped into the bus, calling "Later Thalia! And Ichigo, if you break too many prophecies I'll make sure you remember it for eternity!" never before had somebody seemed to threaten my life so cheerfully, and when I turned the glowing red convertible was already sky-bound.

I was going to comment on the God's split-personality behaviour but when I turned the words sort-of died in my mouth.

Light snow covered the ground of the hillside we stood on. The hill itself was next to the lake (so we'd barely just missed crashing into a lake, great), and adjacent to an outdoor pavilion filled with tables (presumably a dining area). Looking further I spotted what looked to be an arena, a climbing wall (was that lava pouring down it? Insane and awesome, definitely like something Kisuke would design), and twelve cabins set in a U-shape in the centre of the camp.

At the back sat a large house painted baby-blue with a white trim. Other than that I saw lights that looked a lot like Christmas lights but almost seemed to be actual fire (if it was deadly I really did think Kisuke would have a field day here, at least in insane training methods).

I'm pretty sure I was jealous of Thalia and Percy before I remembered coming here was a matter of life and death – as in if you didn't you'd probably die. Seriously though, if I had summer camps like this back home I'd probably have gone to summer camp as a kid.

"Catch your jaw before it falls off" Thalia joked, shoving me forward by the shoulder "Or take a picture if you need it to last that long. I'll give you the full tour later, for now," she stopped and pointed towards the large house at the far side of camp "We're going to meet up with Percy and go talk to Chiron."

* * *

 **A Protector Until The End**

* * *

Luckily, the walk across camp seemed uneventful. Who knows? Maybe I'd just expected to get called out for my hair or for somebody to question why a 'mortal' had been brought here, but I guess they wouldn't be able to tell just by looking at me that I was normal. After all, I'd come through that weird barrier in to camp without anything bad happening.

When we got within view of the house I felt whoever it was we were probably going to see. My senses were invaded by a presence that felt what I'd associate as being 'Godly' (meaning it was similar enough to how it felt near Artemis to make assumptions) and another presence, that while not godly was definitely ancient.

When we got to the door Thalia looked like she'd been hit with a brilliant idea before she turned to me, saying "Before we go in there I should warn you, _don't_ piss off Mr D." so the godly presence I felt was a man named 'Mr D', which I'd assume was an abbreviation for something.

Then it struck me how impressed with herself Thalia had looked when she'd realised she should tell me not to pick a fight and I felt a vein pop out of my forehead. Same old Thalia indeed.

When we entered, Thalia led me to a larger room that seemed almost like it was too casual or normal to be where we were meeting a god.

Grover brushed past me as he entered, looking like he'd been seriously abused (so he'd probably tried to help the Hunters), though with his grin I'd confused him for masochistic.

Before Thalia or I had the chance to say anything on entering Grover pretty much explained the reason for his injuries in one (way too happy) sentence "The Hunters are all moved in!"

Thalia had to nudge Grover to the side when he seemed to be too caught up in his delusions regarding the Hunters before I got a good look at who we were speaking to. Sat in a wheelchair was an older man ('don't outright call him and 'Old Man', apparently that'll get me killed depending on who I say it to' I had to keep telling myself) with curly brown hair and a shaggy beard, wearing a fuzzy sweater with a hoof print design on it and a blanket covering his legs.

The other man… well let's just say he leaned towards looking like he'd stumble out of a bar with Shunsui. A slightly pudgier ('hey, saying slightly might make it seem less disrespectful') man with curly black hair and a nose that looked like somebody had taken a pretty fat strawberry and glued it to his face. The more disturbing fact was that he was wearing a neon orange leopard skin warm-up suit and purple running shoes. A golden laurel wreath sat on top of his head, though whether that was of importance or not I didn't know.

Unfortunately, I was left with the issue of not knowing which one I was meant to not make mad which was definitely an issue seeing as with my luck I'd make one of them mad at some point or another.

"Thalia!" 'Wheelchair guy' (as I had dubbed him) exclaimed happily "It is good to see you are alright after what happened…" his expression darkened "We will find Annabeth, I promise. Also…" he stopped speaking when he saw me standing next to Thalia.

"Ichigo Kurosaki." He said simply, though what seemed to be a surprised expression turned back into a friendly one after a moment of hesitation. He held out his hand and I shook it "I am Chiron. I'm the trainer here at Camp." So, good news. I might not get vaporised if I pissed this guy off. He held a gaze I'd seen on few others, perhaps Jushiro or Shunsui or any of the eldest captains; gazes that showed years of experience and compassion towards his students, I could respect that.

Before he spoke again he glanced behind me at Nico before settling his gaze on Grover "Grover, perhaps you should take our young friend to the den and show him our orientation film." He suggested.

I don't know why I intervened, but maybe I saw it like when Soul Society didn't involve me because they thought I was a child or it wasn't my business, but I intervened anyway. "He's a Half-Blood as well and he was there when everything with Thorn happened. He has a right to stay and to know what he's been brought into."

Mr D's gaze levelled on me silently and Chiron's orbs bored into my own. It lasted no longer than a moment but Chiron relented "Very well then, he may see the orientation film another time." He spoke to us all collectively "Now perhaps you can all tell us the whole story."

* * *

 **A Protector Until The End**

* * *

The story took the better half of an hour to get through (and I wasn't interrogated too much on my involvement). Almost immediately after we'd finished Chiron turned to Mr D "We should launch a search party for Annabeth immediately." I could tell from the worried look in Chiron's eyes he cared for Annabeth – the look of a worried father, one I knew I'd seen many times before.

Apparently being a Half-Blood must have also made you pretty damn impulsive seeing as the moment Chiron finished his statement I stood up alongside Percy and Thalia, saying "I'll go." (I'd learn to predict my own impulsiveness, I was happily surprised they'd stood up as quickly as I had – possibly a slightly lessened chance of being blown up should this piss them off).

Thalia turned to me when she'd realised I'd stood as well and sent me an appreciative smile. I guess I wasn't as impulsive back then, enough so that she wouldn't expect me to get up as quickly as they had.

The pudgy God sniffed. "Certainly not!"

Thalia and Percy complained in response, but I stood motionless with my gaze levelled against the God. Clearly he didn't care much for the campers but he was actively denying them to search for her, why?

"From what you have told me" he began, a purplish fire in his eyes that put me off (if only slightly) "we have broken even on this escapade. We have, ah, regrettably lost Annie Bell –." So this was what it was like listening to me trying to say unpronounceable names – at least with me it was obvious I actually sucked at remembering names, Mr D seemed to say them wrong purposefully.

"Annabeth." Percy snapped in response. I knew this was hurting him, they'd been close (probably) and I knew better than anyone what it felt like to know your friend could already be dead or die any time soon and to be told you weren't allowed to go help them.

Maybe that was when my gaze at Mr D turned into a glare, I don't know. Either way he continued "Yes, yes, and you procured a small annoying boy to replace her." I think Nico might've been glaring behind my back, and he had just as much right to. God or not, this guy was asking for a beatdown.

"So I see no further point risking further half-bloods on this ridiculous rescue. The possibility is very great that this Annie girl is -." He stopped himself and his fiery purplish gaze locked with my own.

"Naturally _you'd_ object to the point I'm trying to make. Perry Johanson here could learn from your example of what not to be like when he grows up." He said offhandedly – I wasn't sure who he was insulting, me or Percy.

"Your point?" I responded. I wouldn't rise to him. I did NOT want to get fried today.

"Who knows, maybe I'm not even making a point. You may want to reel in your anger though, not matter how hard you try to control it. Before the insane creature takes hold." Before I could question him he raised a sausage-like finger and pointed to himself "God of madness, wine, and theatre."

Dionysus.

Who the hell thought the patron saint of alcoholics could be in charge of an entire camp of teenagers? Sounded like a high-school nightmare if you asked me.

Nico seemed somewhat happy he was being introduced to Dionysus (probably because of his card game) but his happiness was quelled by his annoyance at the God's demeanour and earlier comments.

I forced what little Reiatsu I had down and felt my anger leave me. I missed my inner Hollow – the demon may have been the same being, but it lacked the sentience – it was a mindless, insane, beast.

"I asked you what your point was." I repeated, maybe he'd wanted to test me or bait me but he seemed happily surprised I hadn't just burst out in anger or picked a fight.

Percy seemed to have had enough and stood up from the table. Before he could speak out in impulsive anger Dionysus continued as if he weren't there "Asphodel versus Huco Mundus. An inconsequential member of Asphodel's allies was taken and Asphodel refused to send a rescue party for one person, so one of Asphodel's own discarded his rank and took his allies to save their friend. Sound familiar? The moment Asphodel's former representative threw away his rank he denied help from any of them when he led his suicidal charge into the enemy fortress, his only allies those foolish enough to follow him." I knew exactly what he was talking about, even if he got names wrong or mispronounced. Why was he calling Soul Society 'Asphodel'?

"The warrior fought, and fought, and fought, and I'm pretty sure he died once or twice. He and his foolish friends were only lucky enough to be saved because Asphodel had already planned to send their forces to attack the enemy's main base. Otherwise he, and all of his foolish friends, would have perished." He stopped his abbreviated retelling of the Hueco Mundo infiltration to take a long glug from his Diet Coke before continuing.

"These heroes shall not be so lucky. Should they go on this suicidal mission to save a single half-blood they will have no help and they shall perish." He seemed satisfied with the point he had made and turned to Chiron, the latter holding a defeated look to his apparent superior.

Chiron turned to us "Percy, you and Thalia go down to the cabins. Inform the campers we'll be playing capture the flag tomorrow evening." He then sent me a pleading look, and while I'm not sure what he exactly wanted to say I got the feeling he was hoping I'd make the right choice – whatever choice it was I apparently had to make.

"But – Chiron! You can't just let him!" I'd already grabbed Percy's arm and was pulling him alongside me towards the exit of the house, and it seemed Thalia had caught on (and caught Percy's other arm) and was helping me drag him outside.

The moment the door to the house had closed behind us Percy had turned on me "What are you doing! He's happy to let another camper die! I thought you were her friend." Thalia had already started glaring when he started yelling, but it definitely increased to 'you may get struck by lightning' levels of angry with his final statement.

I only knew what I'd garnered from Dionysus' take on half of the Winter War, so I figured I'd just tell them what Dionysus had inadvertently told me "I know I haven't gotten half the details of what's going on or Thorn's employers, but it's obvious enough to me the path current events are taking will inevitably lead you to one place."

"What place?" Nico asked confusedly. Maybe if I wasn't here he'd remain a naïve child a while longer, but I was – and unfortunately he'd live longer if he knew the full extent of what he'd been brought into.

"War" I supplied. "Mr D is running a tactical play. I don't know how the relations between Gods and their children run, but he doesn't want any more campers put at risk when preparations need to be made for what's coming." Maybe there was a brain behind all of that Diet Coke and fat that seemed to layer the pudgy man's head.

"And how would you know? You aren't a half-blood. You don't even have a reason to be here." He questioned. Perhaps I'd piqued his curiosity enough for his anger to subside so he'd begun questioning me.

"The other thing Mr D said, about that other war." Nico spoke up "Asphodel versus Hucka something"

"Hueco Mundo" I supplied.

"Yeah" Nico responded "Did he mean Asphodel like the 'Fields of Asphodel'? That's the afterlife, I think. Why would the afterlife fight a war?" it was a good question indeed. If Soul Society was the afterlife as I knew it how did it fit in with whatever the mythology dictated would exist instead?

"He spoke about that like it was personal to you." Thalia said "You – you were part of that story somehow, weren't you?" I appreciated Dionysus' insight before – now I wanted to go shove something long, sharp, and metal through him a couple thousand times.

I'd already promised Thalia I'd give her the truth – but I still wasn't sure about all of it. At least Dionysus had been vague enough for me to reply "I'm sure I've told you before there is nothing I wouldn't do for my friends; even if it means going on a suicidal mission to save them."

I'd left it just vague enough to hide the entire truth – the way I'd said it I could've been one of the 'foolish friends' who followed, well, _me_ into a death trap.

Thalia looked at me like part of the puzzle suddenly made sense, and I guess it had. At least this way she knew I hadn't remained normal even after I'd lost my memories – though I had no doubt she now wondered the same questions I did, if not the same questions phrased differently.

She'd ask why I'd worked with 'Asphodel' where I'd ask what Soul Society and Asphodel had in common – enough so for Mr D to refer to them as the same thing. Maybe she'd ask about what I'd been through – and I wanted to know what I'd been through back then.

Either way, perhaps now what she understood was the smaller details – the ones that showed I was still a fighter, one that had fought countless battles. I guess it really did make sense why she was afraid I'd be different.

"Either way Percy," she spoke up among the thoughtful silence "You've already got Ares on your bad side" she sent me and Nico a look that pretty much labelled it 'A story for another time' before continuing "You need another immortal enemy?"

"Sorry" Percy sombrely replied "I couldn't help it. It's just so unfair." I might've been angrier when Percy snapped at me earlier, _if_ I didn't relate to him on so many levels.

At that, Thalia looked towards the hill on the edge of camp where a pine tree sat – one taller than the others, with something golden shining in the lower branches (and was that a goddamn _dragon?)_. Her expression was one she'd looked at me with a few times in the last day – one of sadness, regret and maybe just plain old resentment to whatever higher force set her on that path, a look I knew too well.

The golden object shined once more and for a moment I was lost in a memory, fleeting though it was.

 _Screams of anguish._

 _Monsters calling for blood._

 _Kneeling over a dying friend._

 _A blade piercing my chest – a defiant yell and once more it was gone._

The memory was far less clear – a collection of vague images. I had to blink away the images when I looked down and expected some kind of blade to protrude from my chest. It wasn't clear enough to remember anything of what had happened – but it had been raining, and for me that was enough to know it had been real.

"That feels – wrong" Nico fumbled for the word at first. I gazed at him in confusion "Light and dark, good and evil."

"What are you talking about?" Percy questioned.

"I don't know" he replied hesitantly "just a feeling – like seeing something broken so obviously but not knowing how to fix it." This half-blood stuff was definitely starting to either get on my nerves or keep me in perpetual confusion though Nico seemed to feel the same, shaking the thoughts out of his head and shrugging with a smile. Maybe this entire thing still felt cool and surreal to him, like he'd stepped into his own fantasy adventure.

"Weird feelings aside," I started "I gave you my word I'd help you get Annabeth back – a promise I swear I will keep, no matter what." Percy's expression brightened at least when I reassured I was going to keep my promise.

"Well you two can get back to me when you actually have an idea _how_ to get her back" Thalia half responded, half joked. I guess talking and acting like everything was normal was the closest thing we had to a coping mechanism when things didn't go the right way.

"We'll figure something out" Percy responded, and I wholeheartedly agreed with him.

"First I find out that Luke is lost" she said "Now Annabeth-." I cut her off.

"What do you mean 'Luke is lost'?" dead? Missing? Or something worse? "What happened?" Luke was just as much a friend to me as Thalia, Annabeth and Grover were back then. I'd been lucky to meet them again and find them all alive, especially when I thought Thalia was dead – if Luke had died and I didn't even know… another friend lost when I couldn't help.

Thalia turned to me with a sorrowful look in her eyes, but when she wanted to speak she didn't seem to know what to say – Percy did, supplying "He betrayed the camp a little over a year ago. Thorn's 'employer' that he mentioned – it's Luke." now I definitely understood the venom in Percy's voice when he mentioned Luke, there was definitely some personal issues there.

My mind rushed with a million questions – why? He'd only cared about his friends when I'd met him, so why would he betray them and for what gain?

Thalia said nothing (maybe she found it as unbelievable as I did), turned and her gaze fixed on a scene I found at least slightly amusing (or maybe distracting) – a camper and a Hunter looking ready to fight. The humorous part wasn't that a fight was going to break out; it was that while the camper had his hand on a sword hilt the Hunter almost looked ready to fight him to the death with her choice of weapon – a basketball.

"It's more complicated than that," Thalia responded, pain in her voice "I'll explain it to you later, I promise." Even if inadvertent, the words stung. The promise of a later explanation felt to me what it must've to Thalia – an important detail left out purely because it hurt to talk about. "I'll go break that up" she turned to Percy "You circulate around the cabins. Tell everybody about Capture the Flag tomorrow."

"Alright," Percy replied "You should be team captain."

"No, no" Thalia responded "You've been at camp longer. You do it" great, they were having a battle of the stubbornly awkward.

"We can uh, co-captain or something" Percy seemed to have developed the first strategy I had for Thalia's stubbornness originally – awkward solutions that would probably backfire somehow.

Thalia nodded and turned to me and Nico "You two could look around camp for a while" she supplied "If you want to, or you could go see what Grover's doing or something I guess. I'll catch up with you later, Ichigo." She gave me a rare smile and turned to go make sure nobody was killed with a basketball or sword today.

Percy waved his hand in a general 'basically the same thing as Thalia said' gesture before leaving to go tell the other campers (what were me and Nico gonna be left doing while everyone else played Capture the Flag?, because sitting around with Dionysus drinking Diet Coke did not sound fun – and I'd probably try and strangle the god and be turned into something unpleasant within the first dozen minutes, give or take however long it took him to say something that pissed me off).

I turned to Nico but his gazed seemed to be downcast so I asked the obvious question "What's up?"

"Nothing" he replied hastily, before looking at me and instead answering "I guess with nothing to distract me I just started thinking about Bianca leaving again." Figures, though he continued "Don't take me the wrong way, I appreciate everything but I guess with how she's always looked out for me I've always wanted to get better and prove I can stand on my own – without her help."

Nico di Angelo puzzled me. One minute he'd be a happy go lucky kid and the next he showed maturity I wouldn't expect after seeing him a minute before – I guess he would have to grow up a bit to deal with moving around and being an orphan, not to mention being stuck in a military school like Westover seemed to be.

But if he wanted to be stronger – that was one thing I could help him with, especially seeing as I felt bad I wasn't able to stop Bianca joining the Hunters in the first place.

"Maybe we should go back to Chiron and see that orientation film?" Nico suggested hesitantly – maybe he'd figured I didn't care or felt awkward about what he'd said, but I spotted a sight in camp that would be the place I'd want to know best.

"You said you wanted to get stronger?" I asked "Well let's go then!" Nico looked puzzled for a second before he realised where I was pointing.

The arena I'd seen earlier.

Hey, when you get dropped in a world of mythology, monsters and suddenly not-dead friends I'd advise the best way to cope is to stick with what you're good at. It was time to see if these campers left any half-decent swords lying around.

* * *

 **Woop! New chapter, more story progression!**

 **Honestly Nico's character is going to be kind of fun to work with, seeing as he isn't touched on enough until Heroes of Olympus, and it's fun to consider how certain changes in story could affect his character and others.**

 **Anyway, didn't have any guest reviews to respond to so I hope you've all enjoyed the chapter :D**

 **See ya next time.**


	7. The Offer

**I don't have much to say other than apologising for time taken to get new chapters written - explanation on that and what I've been up to in the end of chapter AN.**

 ***Groan* - Obligatory Disclaimer message - Don't own anything portrayed in this story other than the attempts to blend two awesome pieces of media into one.**

* * *

 **A Protector Until The End: Chapter 7: The Offer**

* * *

My respect for the camp was seemed to grow every few minutes. That is to say that the arena had been quite impressive (though my standards were pretty low seeing as all the training areas I'd ever trained in were large, rocky terrains made by Kisuke).

And they had swords. They had a _lot_ of swords.

The combat arena seemed to be set up both for training and spectator sport, what with the rows of raised seating surrounding it. At the edges of the arena sat racks of weapons, from swords to daggers to bows and everything in between, coupled with armour for protection.

One thing all of the weapons had in common that I could definitely tell on sight was they weren't made from normal metal – something I'd immediately realised on picking one up and experimentally swinging it.

"What are these made of…?" I'd wondered aloud.

"It looks like bronze, I think." Nico replied, his curious gaze wandering the rows of weapons. He picked up what looked like a mace experimentally "Except it glows." He noted.

That had been what he'd said that improved the idea of it not being normal. What had originally sparked the thought to me of it not being normal was that normal metal couldn't conduct Reiatsu so easily. It felt like the moment I'd grabbed a blade my power had reacted – not like Fullbring, but almost like I could use my power in conjunction with these blades without damaging the blades – hopefully.

"Are you sure about this?" I asked Nico. He seemed a little zoned out – perhaps in excitement, happiness or the realisation of how real this had become – and it made me wonder if his desire to get stronger was something he'd blurted out impulsively, something he didn't actually have the resolve to achieve or strive for.

"What?" he responded "No!-no, I was just a little overwhelmed is all. I didn't realise there would be so many weapons and I guess I hadn't really thought any of this through much further." I drew a blank on that as much as he did. I figured we'd just train with swords but this could be a bit more difficult if he were to use other weapons – ones I'd be less proficient at training him in.

"Sounds like you need to think through what type of weapon you'd want to use," A voice interrupted. I turned to the voice and saw an African-American guy that stood a bit taller than me. He had brown hair and a scowl to rival my own (I'd have thought him hostile if he didn't speak in such a kind tone). The guy looked big enough and had enough muscle on him to look like he'd be able to at least pose a challenge to Chad in an arm-wrestling contest. He wore overalls on top of the same orange camp shirt I'd seen Percy and other campers wearing.

"Ichigo Kurosaki, he's Nico di Angelo" I introduced, holding out a hand "and you are?"

He gripped my hand in his own (large and calloused) hands and responded "Charles Beckendorf, but most just call me Beckendorf. Head counsellor of the Hephaestus cabin." Meaning he was most likely a son of Hephaestus – I went out on a complete guess to assume he was a god of forging or something seeing as Beckendorf seemed to know what he was talking about when it came to weapons and he'd looked like he'd been standing around a forge all day.

I'd expected him to ask about if I was a half-blood or who my 'godly parent' was but he didn't seem concerned (he wasn't concerned about Nico's parentage either). He walked past me and stood by Nico at the weapon racks, noting aloud "You're smaller built than most campers because of your age, probably not strong enough to use anything like a club or greatsword or to pull a bow back far enough." He plucked a bronze knife from the rack, seemingly undamaged "a dagger perhaps?"

Nico looked at the weapon uncertainly, and turned to me as if expecting an input. "That's fair enough. But he'd be able to make better use of quick strikes and maintain a safer distance if he tried using a sword."

Beckendorf put his hand over the lower part of his face in thought before removing it and perusing the racks of weapons, mumbling numbers (measurements?) as he went. He pulled a shorter sword (long enough to be useful, not so long as to impede Nico) from the rack before presenting it to Nico "Most of these weapons are made as forging practise so newer campers can learn how to forge with Celestial Bronze or as training weapons or a spare stockpile of weapons in case of emergency but it should serve you well enough" he started. "When you've been at camp a while longer and you're a little better with a weapon we could get a good idea of how to make you a weapon of your own." Nico brightened up at that, and it made me happy to see happiness on his face despite the circumstances he'd been placed under.

Beckendorf turned to me next "So what kind of weapon would you be interested in?" I'm not sure who or what Beckendorf thought I was – perhaps he thought I was some new half-blood camper like Nico or something – but I definitely wasn't someone who needed a guide on what weapon I'd choose. I'd already spotted several weapons – ones most likely made by the same camper or made under the same requirements – that would suit my standards perfectly.

I crossed to the racks at a fastened pace and let instinct do the rest – from the rack I pulled a Celestial Bronze sword – more like a greatsword – that was long enough (and almost broad enough) to be like my original Zanpakuto had been so long ago when Rukia first gave me my powers.

Beckendorf looked at me uncertainly "Are you sure about that?" he faltered, perhaps feeling like he'd insulted on of his cabinmates work "I mean – the blade was forged well enough, but it looks like the creator went a bit overboard and made it bigger than a standard blade of similar size should be. Are you sure you'll be able to use that effectively?"

I smirked in response, replying "You wanna stick around while we train and see how well I can use it?"

He laughed at the challenge, and silently took a seat as I turned to Nico "I'm warning you now – I've never trained anyone before but that doesn't mean I'll be going _too_ easy on you."

* * *

 **A Protector Until The End**

* * *

I stood casually opposite Nico in the arena, watching him adjust his footing with the sword – and probably realise he had no idea how to use the weapon. He looked to me for guidance and I offered nothing, and after a minute or so I held my hand out and gave him the universal gesture for 'come at me' and he obliged.

He raised the sword in an overhead swing but in the few seconds before he'd strike me he faltered and no strength came from his swing. I sidestepped him and tripped him, sending him clattering to the floor.

Nico picked himself up, scowling. If I was going to be training him, he'd learn how I did.

"Again" I commanded.

It was probably at about attempt number seven that he released his frustration "What's the point? You aren't teaching me anything!" he was angry, but I figured I wouldn't be as difficult with him as Kisuke had with me – he was _ten_ , for crying out loud!

"I'm not teaching you anything to see how long it takes you to realise what it is I'm trying to teach you," his gaze grew puzzled and I knew he'd probably thought what I had when I'd training with Kisuke – or when I'd trained for Bankai (something along the lines of 'How the hell am I meant to learn when you still aren't telling me what I'm being taught?!').

I continued "Every time you charge at me you falter and lose all power in your strikes, do you understand why that is?" I prompted.

He seemed confused and frustrated as he replied "Because I don't want to hurt you! How am I meant to learn if my teacher seems so intent on letting me skewer him?" time for Kisuke lesson number two (right after lesson number one and one point five, being 'The little girl is always a lot stronger than she looks' and 'don't let the crazy man bind your arms and throw you in a pit').

"Out there those monsters won't hesitate to tear you to pieces" I said "You have to be just as merciless. Without the resolve to come at me without fear you dull your blade and you will become your own worst enemy." I explained.

"I've been in more sword fights than I can count and I've been through more pain than you can imagine – don't worry about hurting me." I said, hoping to calm his nerves – he was still a kid. I commanded once more "Now come at me with intent to kill."

Nico still seemed hesitant, but when he charged me he didn't slow and only weakened his swing slightly – a good improvement at least. I brought my sword up and blocked his with enough force to launch him onto his back.

"Good" I started as Nico picked himself up "Next lesson: strength isn't everything. You're a smaller – and in most cases – faster target, so use it. Don't fight me with blind rage and brute force, use your natural advantages."

If nothing else, Nico di Angelo was a fast learner and I briefly wondered if all half-bloods were this instinctually built for battle – to the point Nico picked up combat almost as fast as I had (they had being half god on their side, I still had no explanation for my inhuman growth rate).

I charged Nico again – Beckendorf had seemed satisfied at what he'd seen and had left, probably to return to his cabin or do something else (either way it seemed Nico and I had made a new friend at camp) – Nico ducked under the first swipe, jabbing out with the butt of his sword. I backstepped the strike, but Nico had feinted the jab and was striking for my head. Unfortunately his wrist quickly found itself locked in my grasp with my blade against his neck.

"You're learning pretty quickly," I complimented, watching the boy's smile brighten (earlier frustration at my training methods seemed to have paved way to enjoyment at learning) before I continued "You fight too offensively though. From what I understand monsters are plentiful to the point you could find yourself overwhelmed easily – you need to work on your defence."

"I'd say that training could wait for another day" a voice interrupted, and I turned to it. What I turned and saw however, was the older man from the big house (Chiron, I think) except he wasn't in a wheelchair. He wasn't in a wheelchair and he was a horse from the waist down.

I had to stop, rub my eyes – and when he still had the lower half of a white stallion I contemplated knocking myself out with my sword to see if he still looked like that when I eventually came to.

"You're a centaur!" Nico exclaimed happily – despite apparent exhaustion and the layer of sweat covering his small frame "Wow!"

At Chiron's side stood Beckendorf and Thalia, Beckendorf commenting "I thought they might still be here. Your friend's a piece of work when it comes to swordplay Thalia." His input done he turned and left to where they came from, towards the lake.

Thalia looked pretty surprised – I had no idea how long they'd been watching – but I figured I'd have to joke about it "Catch your jaw before a fly goes inside. Better yet, you should've taken a video – it would've lasted longer." The humour seemed to snap Thalia out of her surprised trance.

"I apologise to interrupt your training, Ichigo" Chiron interrupted before Thalia could respond "But dinner was called around half an hour ago in the dining pavilion." My stomach protested at the thought of food – I hadn't eaten since the last whatever-preserved-garbage-I-had-in-my-car meal.

"And if I'm honest" Chiron continued "You and Nico both look like you could use a break, especially Nico" Nico tried to protest, but his rumbling stomach and the look of exhaustion he held definitely disagreed with him.

Wordlessly Chiron turned to follow the path Beckendorf had taken and Nico and I followed, keeping the weapons we'd picked sheathed on our backs. Nico hurried ahead at the thought of food, and Chiron stated "Nico, you will sit at the Hermes cabin's table. Ichigo" he turned to me "you will sit at the head table with Mr D and I, seeing as you aren't a half-blood or Satyr. There is something I would speak to you about, though it will wait until later."

Chiron trotted further ahead, towards the pavilion at the edge of the lake, filled with half empty tables (bar the one full of Hunters). Thalia turned to me, questioning "How did you do that?"

I grinned, responding "The carrot top has skills, my dear friend." Thalia punched my arm and groaned in response, but otherwise we followed Chiron to the pavilion silently – and I hoped they had curry – or pizza. Pizza sounded really good right now.

* * *

 **A Protector Until The End**

* * *

So, good news; they had pizza. That at least helped soothe my nerves a bit – they could turn my world upside down with Greek gods and their children, but pizza was sacred, and they seemed to understand that you _don't_ mess with pizza.

Unfortunately the same could not be said for Coke – Chiron had to stop and explain to me that the pavilion's goblets were enchanted and filled with whatever you wanted it to (non-alcoholic though, which threw any ideas of seeing if my life made more sense drunk, though the logical part of my brain dropped those plans when I managed to pick up a sword). I don't get why Coke of all things didn't taste the same, but it didn't.

For the sake of upholding an image, I wish I could say that was the _only_ thing Chiron had to explain to me – it wasn't.

For the whole list of things I didn't understand – think of all the logical things and assume I understood them. Now think of all the mythological or illogical things – yeah, those were what I didn't get at all.

One thing I did get? I definitely still wanted to clobber Mr D. He sat at the head table with Chiron and I, making idle conversation with Chiron and being delivered grapes by Wood Nymphs or Satyrs – Wood Nymphs being girls that I'd seen around camp, some relatively human looking and some green, perhaps looking a bit tree-like or something – something else Chiron had to explain.

Back on topic to Mr D and my current state of wanting to beat him to death with a can of Diet Coke – which he was still drinking. Even if they spoke in quieter tones, uninterested in the goings on around the rest of the dining pavilion (luckily it seemed Chiron and the others had retrieved Nico and I soon enough to avoid completely missing dinner, even if we may have been the only ones left eating), though the rest of the dining pavilion was also not as bustling or full of life as I'd expect it to be during say, summer for example, when people would usually be attending a _summer_ camp.

The liveliest table by far was occupied entirely by the Hunters – bantering, messing around and having fun – while the less populated tables were still seating campers who'd speak and laugh, just not as obviously or loudly.

Nico at least seemed occupied between eating and asking questions about camp to two campers, undeniably twins, at the Hermes table.

Then there was Thalia, Percy and I. They both sat at separate tables, alone – somewhere in my mind supplied the idea of children of Poseidon and Zeus being rare – and I grouped myself with them because I may as well have been sitting alone, what with Chiron and Mr D talking and Chiron occasionally lowering his voice – which is what led to my annoyance.

Perhaps he'd forgotten I was still close enough to hear, but I could still hear Chiron pleading the case of sending out a rescue party for Annabeth – which Mr D was still denying. After the seventh or so attempt – I'd assume Chiron and Mr D were pretty good friends seeing as Mr D hadn't threatened Chiron's life yet – Chiron instead turned to speak to me.

"Ichigo, now that you have finished eating, I would ask you" he inquired "Will you and Nico be participating in the game of Capture the Flag tomorrow? More so than that, do you believe Nico is capable of participating?" Most likely an enquiry based on the fact we'd lost hours that afternoon training, so I'd be the best judge – and the Hunters did seem to at least slightly outnumber the campers present, meaning less people would have to sit out to have even teams if Nico and I involved ourselves.

Though it did pave way for me to voice another question I'd have form since training with Nico. "I'd say he's picked up enough skill, so long as the Hunters aren't deliberately aiming to maim or kill. Though that's something I've been wondering about." I responded.

"And what would that be?" Chiron seemed surprised at the unexpected question – and I got the feeling that joining capture the flag wasn't the thing he wanted to speak to me about originally but had been the most relevant topic to start on.

"For a ten year old, Nico's managed to pick up swordplay like a natural – this coming from a guy who learned his entire basis for sword fighting based on instinct and an unnatural growth rate in its own league – one Nico seems to show something similar to." I questioned – Nico had picked up fighting almost too quickly. My excuse was that I'd originally had prior experience getting in fights that helped me pick up using a sword in my first days as a Shinigami – Nico didn't have an explanation.

"I see" Chiron responded "While I don't have any idea about why you had such an unnatural growth rate –."

"Nobody does" Mr D interrupted "Everyone just opted to start calling him a freak of nature." That drew confused looks from me and from Chiron – though it was dropped in favour of Chiron's explanation.

"As I was saying" he restarted "While there isn't a logical explanation for your growth rate, there is for Nico and half-bloods like him. You are aware of the normal disorders common in half-bloods, I assume?" I wasn't, but vague pattern recognition applying to Thalia, Luke and Annabeth and behaviour from Percy earlier gave me a pretty good idea of what was common.

"Dyslexia and ADHD, I'm assuming?" I supplied.

"Yes" Chiron confirmed "Both are a somewhat natural occurrence for children of the gods. The dyslexia is due to their minds being hardwired for ancient Greek as opposed to modern language and the ADHD is due to what could essentially be described as having their brains wired for battle, if that makes sense." It did, well enough at least, so I gave Chiron a nod of confirmation.

The table once more fell into silence until Chiron seemed to decide if he had no way to bridge to a subject he'd leap headfirst into it. "As for the topic I wanted to speak to you about -." That was as far as Chiron got into his leap before the wall known as Dionysus decided to sprout itself out of nowhere.

"I told you before I don't think you should bother, the boy has no reason to agree to anything." The god responded, though what I would still assume was him insulting me didn't seem over when he continued "You may as well tell him first that his car showed up right outside camp a few hours ago before the Hephaestus kids start dismantling it for parts." The only good thing I got from Dionysus' input was that my car was outside camp, lucky for me at least – a shower (which I was hoping to get somewhere at camp) was only so good if you could change clothes afterwards.

Unfortunately, Dionysus' input seemed to have destroyed Chiron's desire to say what he'd wanted to, and the rest of the time at dinner fell into silence – bar when Chiron stood to announce the game of capture the flag to everyone, which seemed to get a very positive reception. I really couldn't tell if they were happy about the sport and friendly competition or if I'd just signed myself and Nico up for a game of capture the flag full of bloodthirsty teenagers and (at least towards any males) bloodthirsty, immortal preteen girls.

Of course, _that_ just had to go and be the final thought to invade my mind when everyone else broke up from dinner – with Thalia giving the promise of meeting up to hang out in the morning – before Nico was led off to the Hermes cabin with the twins from dinner and Chiron offered me a spare bedroom in the Big House.

* * *

 **A Protector Until The End**

* * *

Sleep went about as well as you'd expect for someone who usually sleeps like the dead (haha, _irony_ ), meaning I fell asleep almost instantly. Unfortunately, the few hours of sleep I did get were just that – few. All I can say is that it was most certainly a good thing I was good at going for long periods without full nights of sleep (thanks for that, Rukia and whatever inconsiderate Hollow that was attacking at the time).

My first thoughts upon awakening were to take a shower (I'd immediately discarded getting more sleep), but that was dismissed upon realising I'd have to venture out to my car to pick up a change of clothes first.

Naturally, I didn't even have to be ADHD to get completely sidetracked and end up training in the forest just past camp.

My justification would be that I'd originally set out to retrieve a change of clothes, but had gotten sidetracked the moment I started getting attacked by bird ladies that always seemed to scream something along the lines of 'Intruder! Dinner!' - Even though it was definitely too late for dinner, being the early hours of the morning.

I figured they were some sort of staff that worked for the camp (though what they did was a mystery to me seeing as I had no idea what a camp could use human/bird hybrids for) so I hadn't originally wanted to harm them.

That sorta changed when they started actually enforcing their threats of trying to eat me.

By the time they'd finally decided it was best they leave me alone my somewhat torn clothes were decently shredded and I was sporting a few new scratches and scrapes.

Not to say I didn't hold my own – I definitely did more than that if the bits of feathers, teeth (I'm pretty sure I'd punched one of them in the face a few too many times) and monster dust definitely signified I'd given better than I'd received.

By the time the not-so-intelligent 'Harpies' as they seemed to call themselves (in third person, strangely) finally realised they wouldn't be eating me or persuading me to leave, I was left feeling much more awake standing on the hill overlooking camp.

When I'd turned to the pine tree overlooking camp, the same I'd seen with the golden light shining in its branches and the creature encircling it (the miniature what-was-definitely-a-dragon seemed to spare me a glance after my fight with the Harpies but had gone back to sleep, apparently not deeming me a threat). For a split second the sight of the tree triggered the same memory I'd seen the day before, and once more I felt like… I wasn't sure entirely.

No, that wasn't it.

Both times I'd seen that vision I'd seen a blade protruding from my chest, except if that had happened back then – I'd have had no powers to save me or bring me back.

I felt like I'd died here, a long time ago.

That was what it was – this place was where the story Percy had told me had taken place. Where Thalia stood her ground against the monsters chasing us and I'd refused to leave her. Thalia had thought I'd died because I most likely _had_.

Tenderly, I placed my hand against the trunk of the tree and had staggered back as the images invaded my mind. For a second it felt like I'd been whole – had remembered everything, but was that what I wanted?

In all honesty, this might've just been the same to me as accepting whatever gift Dad had given me when I'd left home. All the answers I needed in one convenient package. Maybe I was stubborn like that, but I refused for it to be that easy.

Somewhere in my subconscious I must've been telling myself I wasn't ready to find out if Thalia's fears of if I was different were true – or if anything had happened back then that I wouldn't want to remember.

I'm pretty sure it was those thoughts that frustrated me so much. I couldn't find the answers myself and I refused to be given them so easily. Those frustrations were what led to me practising swordplay on the edge of camp.

In my mind it was so easy to visualise – perhaps because I'd fought here before. I'd swing at enemies that weren't there and block strikes that never came, but to me it felt so _real_. It was like I was reliving the same battle that had taken place here so long ago – and I almost felt myself slip into memory again before Chiron interrupted me.

"My, you're certainly up quite early Ichigo" he greeted. The man seemed kind enough to me, someone I could trust – I was usually a good judge of character. Unfortunately that didn't mean I'd keep up with pleasantries when he'd oh-so-conveniently stumbled upon me training far from (as far as I knew) any area inside the camp.

So I took a shot in the dark "I'm guessing this is about the offer D didn't want you making?" the man wasn't here, so I dropped any formalities – I was just wary enough of what the gods were capable of that I hadn't altered his name into some sort of insult befitting the man.

He didn't seem surprised "Straight to the point, I see. Your reputation precedes you." So I hadn't escaped any idle chitchat that would pave way to the point of him searching me out. Fair enough. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't trying to be hostile but I'd immediately become somewhat defensive and wary of all the new things I was being introduced to without having _something_ familiar around with which to anchor myself into my already existing – crazy – reality (most likely Thalia or Grover).

But Chiron was easier to understand at least – he was a teacher, and in his own way he seemed to understand I wanted my own answers, and he was offering me a way toward insight on some of it at least. So I replied to his prompt "And what reputation would that be?"

"The reputation of a noble warrior who fought for what he believed in and saved the world, much like many others have in history" he responded. I guess by 'history' he probably meant Greek mythological heroes who I could assume had most likely existed.

"Apollo sure didn't make it seem that way" I said, and Chiron nodded in response.

"Some of the gods can be… difficult" he began "Where some may see you as a hero who stopped a traitor to Asphodel, others only see that you denied a prophecy to run its full course." Naturally, he chose to further explain the whole 'prophecy' business – seeing as I was told I could break them without being told what they were in the first place.

Essentially prophecies were meant to be set fates or clues given towards big events (end of the world and all that crap, you get what I mean) or given to predict the course of a quest – by what Chiron referred to as 'The Oracle of Delphi', someone who spoke Apollo's prophecies (it suddenly made a whole lot more sense why he didn't like me).

I guess the easiest way to explain it would to be that the fates predicted in the prophecies were unstoppable, and in a way that could be reassurance of how a situation could end. Yet somehow I'd managed to break a prophecy – one that told of Aizen winning and eventually coming to face the gods on Olympus (though as far as I could interpret the prophecy it seemed to say it would be where he met his end).

Apparently the idea of someone coming along and throwing predetermined fate out the window put them on edge a bit.

"And how does the existence of Soul Society fit into all of this?" I'd asked after Chiron finished explaining prophecies and my involvement in one.

He let out a long sigh – not in exasperation but perhaps knowing he'd have to answer that question next. He answered "As you've probably realised, what you refer to as 'Soul Society' we refer to as 'Asphodel' meaning the Fields of Asphodel." He didn't miss a beat or wait for me to ask for further explanation. "The Fields are the final resting place of souls seen as neither good nor evil after death. Originally the dead would simply arrive in the underworld after their deaths for judgement, but a strange phenomenon occurred many centuries ago that caused souls not to pass over. But instead of simply remaining alive because the soul wouldn't pass over, they changed." I didn't need elaboration.

"They became the first Hollows" I supplied.

"Exactly." He responded "Because of this, and the sheer amount of souls becoming Hollows, something had to be done. The God of death, Thanatos, wasn't able to maintain his duties and combat the threat of Hollows. And so souls inside Asphodel were given a chance to better themselves after death."

"They became Shinigami." Well it made more sense than any other explanation I had for when and why they'd first come into existence.

Chiron continued without acknowledging the truth in my statement "Gradually over many years the Soul Reapers and Hollows drifted apart on to their own plane of existence, eventually becoming known as the 'Mortal' and 'Spiritual' plains. Powers from either plane would be weakened were it to cross over to the other, and it stayed that way." He paused for breath, letting the explanation sink in "Over time the gods and reapers learned to stay out of the business of one another to the point most don't even know that Soul Reapers or Hollows exist anymore. They simply believe life and death function the same way it always had, and the gods are content to keep it that way."

He paused again, perhaps waiting for a prompt of something else I wanted to know. I realised we'd been standing over the edge of camp for maybe an hour while he'd graciously given me what I wanted to know, and I figured anything else I could find out on my own or discover as time went on.

"You had a request for me?" I asked.

He turned and beckoned me to follow him. Silence reigned until we reached the top of the hill once more, to the place where Thalia had fallen and I was pretty sure I'd died. Then he spoke, overlooking the camp "I ask this of you because I know enough to understand you are a guardian. You protect those you care about and there is little you aren't willing to do to protect something if you deem it worth protecting." The wizened tone in his voice wasn't lost on me. "You learned to fight for your ideals and had to fight in a war in such a short amount of time. I would ask if you'd help me do the same for them. I ask if you'd be willing to become a trainer here at Camp Half-Blood."

Of course, that was what it was. I still wasn't fully up to date on events but Chiron had made a passing mention of a 'great prophecy' that was the biggest current worry for the near future. He was asking me as a man who cared about his students almost paternally to help him prepare them for what would most likely become war.

My throat felt dry and a feeling of emptiness filled me. Maybe it was my own subconscious way of telling myself that whatever I felt about this offer, I wasn't ready to take it. That was what I told Chiron, and he seemed to nod to himself before telling me the offer would remain standing until such a time where I told him for certain I didn't want to take it.

He continued by telling me that breakfast would be within the hour and pointing me in the direction of my car to grab the set out clothes I'd ventured out for hours before, and I followed the direction to retrieve them, and to let myself think.

I wasn't lying to myself – I'd crossed the world and walked across the country twice dwelling on a feeling like I had nowhere to go anymore. But at this camp I'd already begun to meet new people and new friends, along with a few familiar faces.

At the same time that feeling of incompleteness I felt that I still didn't have all of my answers was what led me to say no to Chiron.

I figured that coming to camp had gotten me closer to answers than anything else in the last half a year or so, so I'd definitely stick around a while longer – and if I could find anything else I'd pack up and keep travelling until I figured out what I was looking for. Maybe then I'd come back and take up Chiron's offer.

Though in my mind that almost sounded like planning the next few months or maybe even years of my life in one go, and I had more immediate concerns.

Most immediately – breakfast. I'd been training all morning and I think I'd earned it to say the least.

* * *

 **HA, Screw you Universe! It took me a month but I managed to actually finish a goddamn chapter!**

 **Maybe reading helps inspiration – if that's true thank the fact I saw Ready Player One in cinema three days ago, then read the entire book in the space of 24 hours.**

 **-Side note- I've actually managed to write something for the next chapter of my other story, which is an improvement on what was a longstanding 'Total Nothing'.**

 **Anyway, further development and all that. I get some people were originally concerned about how the two ideas of afterlife would blend together, and I hope I've done it and explained it well enough.**

 **It means the afterlives of both worlds are explained as the same thing AND works as an explanation for limited involvement by Shinigami (and explains why they won't be uber powerful should they appear). Feel free to point out any flaws in my concept that I should amend in the future, it'd be appreciated.**

 **While I did like the concept of afterlife suggested by Sakra95 in a review, I'd already set myself towards an idea similar to what I've ended up with – if it isn't justified well enough Soul Society is a place INSIDE the actual Fields of Asphodel, but the Shinigami have no relationship/link to Olympus or the gods bar Thanatos and occasionally Hades.**

 **Anyway, reviews are always appreciated and I seriously apologise if the next chapters for either of my stories take longer – I'm four weeks away from GCSE's (SEND HELP)**

 **See ya next time :D**


	8. Everything's Great Until It Explodes

**~For the first time in two months – I updated my fucking fic!~**

 **Props to anyone who realised I'm pretty sure I was paraphrasing a Disney song or some shit, it sounds like it in my head at least.**

 **Apologies, oh SO MANY APOLOGIES – to readers of both my stories. As much as I warned that I had upcoming exams and wouldn't be updating as often I wish I had, but exams are over now so I'm content to be able to try and put some stuff up again.**

 **In all honesty I've probably been sitting on this completed chapter for a couple of weeks – I have a process in which when I don't update for long enough I start doubting my writing and it's quality leading to me putting off publishing it.**

 **Anyway, more on that at the end – you guys can tell me if GCSEs robbed me of the functional brain cells needed to write good.**

 **DISCLAIMER - I don't own any of the wonderful pieces of writing I aim to portray – though I do have copies of the Trials of Apollo books in my possession so maybe I'll stop putting off reading Blood of Olympus for fear of losing interest when I finish all the books.**

* * *

 **A Protector Until The End: Chapter 8: Everything's Great Until Something Explodes**

* * *

Breakfast was great – waffles were always a delicious choice for breakfast. Then again just about anything would've tasted like a delicacy if you hadn't gotten a normal amount of sleep and spent a few hours swinging a sword around in a forest.

So food was definitely a great thing to appreciate. Another was being freshly showered and having a different set of clothes on – some worn jeans and a white T-shirt and the same boots I'd been wearing in previous days (I'd chosen to forego wearing anything that was relatively new). In hindsight a shirt that wasn't white would've been better considering I was fully believing with my luck I'd get stabbed several times before the end of the day except the only other available option (that didn't result in me digging through my trash pit of a car) was an orange camp shirt Chiron had left in my room for me the day before.

The shirt took about five seconds to consider before I'd decided against it. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't a bad shirt – it's just I really had no intention of seeing what kind of creative insults or mocking I'd no doubt receive upon wearing an orange shirt with my hair.

I hadn't seen Nico yet that morning – I'd assumed he'd be with Percy or Grover or one of the other campers he'd been introduced to. So I headed towards the training area while considering that I'd seriously need to find another hobby around camp – all I'd really been doing was train since I'd got here, maybe it was just a 'stick to what you're good at' reaction.

I stepped into the arena to the sounds I'd associate with not being the only one present. One glance was all it took for me to identify Thalia – if the fighting like a crazed maniac didn't give it away the shield and spear did. Her back was to me as she jabbed at a training dummy. She seemed to have dumped her jacket on the seating nearby while she trained, showing the grey T-shirt she wore underneath.

I was going to announce my presence but she seemed to be into her training so I figured I'd give her a minute to run out of steam. Instead I stood at the edge and analysed the way she fought. Her fighting style at least indicated she seemed to focus towards keeping an enemy at a distance with her shield and spear. Though by the way she was attacking with power and fury she definitely seemed more like she was relieving anger than actually training.

I figured I'd have to stop her before she ran out of targets and started stabbing anything in the vicinity (i.e. me, if she thought I was spying on her). Though because it was Thalia I abandoned talking to her in a reasonable way and started making jokes. "I'm sure whatever the dummy did to you it isn't worth brutally eviscerating him and all his straw-filled brethren" I said, gesturing to two other maimed and broken dummies lying on the ground.

She turned to me in surprise before her expression schooled into one of well-practised back and forth joking. "They had it coming" she responded.

"The 'they' in that statement being the dummies?" I replied "Or whoever's face you're picturing attached to it?" I shall neither confirm nor deny using that strategy in training to relieve frustration. I'd justify it by remembering how long Hiyori had been abusing me (vocally and physically) during training.

She adopted a thoughtful expression – and I realised (predictably, Thalia's taste hadn't changed in the last six years) that the shirt she was wearing was a Green Day one depicting a green heart with several nails impaled into it – she responded "Don't put yourself down that hard, you haven't infuriated me _that_ much." She grinned at turning my statement against me.

"That much?" I questioned "How have I infuriated you at all?" By this point I'd wandered over to stand next to Thalia, eyeing the remaining dummies that she hadn't brutally executed.

She sighed over-dramatically and made an expression that seemed like mock exasperation – like asking how I could be so oblivious to how apparently infuriating I was.

I shrugged "Fine, you win this one." She'd gotten the last word that I couldn't come up with a witty retort to.

She made a smug grin, and I feared what awaited me next. "Winner chooses the loser's punishment," 'Punishment' usually meant something the other would have to do, though it was never something big or embarrassing – maybe a small favour or something. Thalia usually used to use her favours to go out to the nearest place that did burgers and make me pay, though I had no idea what she'd want me to do this time around. Though whatever horrific (horrific to my wallet, at least) act I thought she may have asked me to do didn't come.

She gestured to the remaining dummies "You said you had moves, so let's see." That was a lot more anticlimactic and cheaper than I'd been expecting.

"You saw me training Nico yesterday though." I responded in my confusion.

"Exactly," she responded "And I know _you_. You'd have restrained yourself at least to some extent. So I wanna see how much better you are compared to then." There was a challenge in her tone, and for once she didn't seem saddened by mention of the past I couldn't remember.

So I was happy to oblige.

I drew my sword and stood centred with three dummies set out in front of me. I'd stood there quietly without moving just long enough for Thalia to start voicing the question of when I was going to do something before I moved. Swinging in a wide arc to my right towards a chink in the dummy's armour removed its head seamlessly before I buried it into the shoulder of the centre one. I wrenched the sword free outwards in such a manner that it freed the torso of the dummy from its armour before I made a diagonal slash from its right to left side. I then repeated the action, slashing it diagonally instead from its left side to its right before releasing my blade in a throw that embedded it through the head of the final dummy.

I'd say it probably took ten seconds or (probably) less, but I could now be considered a terror to dummies everywhere.

I levelled a questioning gaze against Thalia's appraising one as I removed the blade from the head of the final dummy, expecting some kind of reaction. She smirked "Eh, I've seen better." she said, leaning casually at the edge of the arena.

I deadpanned "Duh, it's not like they could move or fight back." Usually back then she'd taunt me and I'd probably have ended up making a fool out of myself, so at least now I knew how to save myself the embarrassment – As a kid I had all the tact of a dented rock.

She lifted her spear casually, leaning it against her shoulder "Are you saying you'd be more impressive against a target that'll actually fight back?"

I sighed, sheathing my sword and walking back towards her. I grabbed her jacket along the way and tossed it at her, chuckling at the muffled protest as she tried to manoeuvre it out of her face. "Sorry, I don't feel much like sparring." I responded "Plus, you mentioned about giving me a tour – I could use help figuring out what else I could actually do here preferably _before_ I end up destroying most of the training equipment."

She seemed ready to protest but surrendered "Okay then. I guess we could start at the edge of camp and work our way around?" she suggested, pulling her jacket back on.

I shrugged "Sure. As long as I don't get attacked by oversized chickens again."

She stopped and stared at me "That was you?" she inquired. Upon my questioning gaze she must've realised I wasn't really sure what she was talking about "It got mentioned that someone on camp broke curfew – and was dumb enough to fight against the harpies." At my pointed look she responded "Hey, that's how rumours go around here! Harpies enforce the curfew and eat campers who break it. Though I guess I understand now why Chiron didn't make much of a fuss about it."

"They really ought to make a pamphlet of key things you should know before doing just about anything here. Like 'Hey! That rockwall contains REAL lava, so climb fast or you're walking home in sole-less sneakers' or 'Curfew is from ten PM to eight AM – break it and get assaulted by murderous human-chicken hybrids intent on eating you for dinner despite the fact it's seven thirty AM'" I supplied. Thalia at least got laughs at my expense – the rock wall had been an on the spot decision and perhaps if I hadn't hung around them so long the harpies wouldn't have caught up to me.

* * *

 **A Protector Until The End**

* * *

Our conversations continued like that as we crossed camp – I witnessed a few of the Hunters around the basketball court again (and luckily no campers were contesting them this time), along with some Satyrs chasing Nymphs around – Thalia muttered something like 'love struck morons' at their expense – though it was hilarious to watch a Satyr run head first towards a Nymph, clearly intent on a kiss, before the Nymph turned into a tree that the Satyr promptly headbutted.

At least it was hilarious the first time. Around the seventh or eighth I understood why Thalia no longer found it funny and instead found it somewhat idiotic.

Before long we were once more stood on the hill overlooking the edge of camp – on the hill where we'd –technically – both died six years before.

Thalia began "Well I guess this is where campers would normally enter camp – the tree sustains the magic barrier around camp that keeps the monsters out," she gestured to the glowing cloth slung over one of the branches above us "the Golden Fleece is what keeps it alive after – " she stopped, perhaps too caught up by conflicting emotions about it. The Fleece must've been the 'magic object' that had brought her back, but I'd yet to hear Thalia's thoughts about it. She'd stood her ground here to protect her friends and instead woke up having lost six years of her life – and had been fully convinced I'd died too.

She stood there, perhaps lost in the same memories I'd witnessed moments of since arriving at camp, before I jolted her out of her stupor. 'Jolted' may have been too literal of a term seeing as I seemed to make her jump in surprise and a shock ran up my arm. "Sorry," she started in realisation of the apparent jolt, her tone betraying the enthusiasm to show me around the place she called home that she held before "I guess next we could go to the Big House, if you haven't already looked around it fully."

I sighed, ignoring her enquiry towards what seemed more prevalent than touring camp "You brought me up here to talk, so let's" I beckoned her to sit next to me on the frost covered grass. It wasn't really the wildest guess that Thalia had brought me up here for a reason – I'd been here before and I doubt she'd _want_ to come back here either.

Her gaze suddenly seemed to become chained to her feet and she responded "Saw through that then I guess," though she still did as asked and sat next to me.

"You aren't the only one who hasn't changed much," I responded. Whether my tone showed it or not, I was happy for that in much the same way Thalia must've been that I hadn't changed much either – deep down we were still the same two kids that met each other in Lower Manhattan.

"It wasn't fair." It dawned on me now that even if she'd aged physically (albeit at a reduced rate), Thalia had only been back a few months and as such she hadn't enough time to catch up mentally, her only saving grace probably being that situations had forced her to mature early when she was younger.

I hooked my arm around her shoulder in a comforting gesture "It never is" I responded "That's the kind of people we are and the kind of lives we live. We get this crap forced on us and we just have to make the best of the situation." If there was one topic I could relate on, it was the universe being a total bitch ninety-eight percent of the time – something I'd been able to relate to since I was nine years old.

"I woke up and had to deal with all of this information and these expectations forced on me" she vented "I'm the first child of Zeus in a long time and the only one that can really relate to those expectations is Percy but at least he's had time to adjust. He came to camp before he was claimed or anyone knew who his parent was – I'd had seven years for the reputation to build of 'The child of Zeus who valiantly gave her life to protect her friends'. Do you know what the worst part was?" she questioned. I stayed and listened diligently – as far as I knew I was the only one who Thalia would ever willingly pour her heart out to like this (she'd long since swore me on threat of death to never tell another soul we ever had these talks).

I didn't need to respond to her question for her to take indication to continue – I'd listen and support her as best I could afterwards or her emotions would betray her and she'd shut it all off again. "When I asked what happened to you or where you were the only answer I got was 'Who's that?'. It was a few days after I woke up that I managed to get a straight answer out of Chiron about it." She chuckled humourlessly "And to think after all that you were still alive. I guess I was more the fool for not checking – or at least checking up on your family. I know you've have done the same for me if things were different." Of course – I guess coming back from the dead didn't leave the best opportunity to bridge the gap with her mother, whom she already had longstanding issues with.

"Have you spoken to her since then?" I enquired. It'd be reassuring to know she at least had family to depend on.

"She died two years ago – car accident." I stayed silent. She seemed to appreciate that more – I, of all people, knew how hollow the words 'I'm sorry' were when it came to death, even if Thalia hadn't been on speaking terms with her mother for years.

Silence fell upon us again. Thalia had shared, and I figured it best that I did too. "Sometimes things are more complicated than they seem. As weird as it may sound, weirder things have happened to me than coming back from the dead and not knowing about it." 'Coming back from the dead as a soul eating monster' came to mind as imminently more insane and terrifying.

"What do you mean?" she asked, her voice more stable as she worked to rebuild the usual barriers she held.

"I'm saying that I _did_ die here. I'm not sure but I've seen bits of it, enough to recognise that I did." I replied, guessing the question that comes next.

"How is that possible though?" she raised a finger at me accusingly "and I swear if you give me any sort of answer involving the phrase 'it's complicated' I promise you I _will_ make sure you can never say those words again." Well, at least 'Normal Thalia' was back (threatening was normal when annoyed, only if she looks truly murderous is there a chance she'll actually start making good on them).

Realistically, I could be honest here and tell her I didn't fully know – and probably get zapped and accused of lying. Or I could give my best working theory that also seemed the most likely. "Something inside me must've reacted and either saved me or brought me back" I supplied, adding "It wouldn't have been the first time."

That seemed to be enough to placate Thalia, though it wasn't enough to stop my guilt at the fact I was continuing to lie. I planned on making good on my promise to tell her everything – just when it was easier to tell and there wasn't so much going on.

I wanted to tell her more, to explain the struggle I'd had for the past over-two years to someone who wasn't involved. Someone who wouldn't give me pity or give shitty words of encouragement. I wanted a friend who wouldn't skirt around the subject altogether purely because they thought it was easier for me if any mention of the spiritual world was censored if I was within earshot.

But I didn't, because the input through my ears had finally managed to process in my brain. "You said that reputation had been building for _seven_ years. What happened here," I gestured to the hillside around us and the tree "was _six_ years ago."

"Ichigo," Thalia began slowly, almost sounding _cautious_ "what year do you _think_ it is?"

I had no idea what she was talking about, and the way she responded made it sound more like saying seven years wasn't just a slip of the tongue.

"It's 2006," I responded bluntly "I have no idea what you're talking about – "

She interrupted the beginnings of my confusion "Ichigo, it's _2007_."

"What?" I questioned "No, it isn't. I'm eighteen, if it was 2007 I'd be nineteen already. I may be forgetful sometimes but I'd definitely remember my own age." I joked lightly.

"I'm serious," she replied "You said that before you showed up at Westover you were in Vegas, right?" At this point I was beyond confusion at the random changes of topics and I was starting to fear the implications that I'd somehow _lost_ an entire year.

"Yeah." I replied simply, lost in the implications of if this was true.

"Something Annabeth told me about," her expression turned wistful at mention of the still missing Annabeth before continuing "A casino in Vegas – it looks normal and while it feels like barely any time has passed months or years can pass and it can feel like just a few hours for anyone inside. They met a guy in there who thought it was still the 70's!" realisation dawned on my face, and I guess Thalia saw it too.

"So I lost an entire year AND half my wallet to that damn casino," I bluntly groaned "My family is going to KILL me." I'd promised to call them monthly and potentially fly back for holidays or birthdays – but my phone had _coincidentally_ decided to stop working after entering that casino, and my newfound journey that led me to Westover distracted from most other details I should've noticed.

Despite being the one to deliver such news that I'd lost that time, Thalia laughed "Only you, Ichigo. Only you could react to losing an entire year like _that_."

"It's not my fault I thought those cash cards were some kind of scam! I barely had enough money for food and bus tickets to get me back to Manhattan. Dad's gonna kill me, follow me to the afterlife, then kill me again." I finished lamely, unable to process each thought into its own individual sentence.

Thalia laughed and stood up "Well I can't wait to hear more of _that_ story later – but it's almost mid-afternoon and we haven't covered any of the camp yet, not to mention we've still got that game of capture the flag after dinner."

I stood up next to her and she took it as prompt to start walking towards the Big House – from which we'd probably get around to the rest of the tour we'd originally meant to be going on – before I grabbed her shoulder to stop her.

She halted and gazed at me questioningly "That won't be the only story I'll tell," I stated "I promise you I _will_ tell you everything – in every annoying little confusing detail – that would fall under the category 'complicated'. And if I haven't told you it before then – consider it a birthday present, and if I haven't told you by then feel free to hold it over my head for an eternity"

She smiled in response "Do you want to repeat that into a recorder so I can hold you to it later on?"

We laughed and kept walking.

* * *

 **A Protector Until The End**

* * *

Unfortunately, it seemed any enjoyment Thalia and I had gotten out of the remainder of the day seemed to die at dinner. I'm not sure what I'd missed (Thalia was just as confused before we'd had to sit separately once more) but campers were tense in anticipation for the capture the flag.

The Hunters? Not so much. If anything that was an indicator something serious might've been wrong. The day before they'd happily bantered and messed about and acted like family. Now they seemed like a family – only if someone in said family had suddenly dropped dead.

Either way Zoë spent dinner torn between eating, whispering with the Hunters (presumably strategizing for the upcoming game) and glaring resentfully at Chiron. I didn't really care – if I wasn't the one being glared at and she wasn't referring to me like a child, I couldn't care less what she was doing really.

After dinner (which was consumed at a much faster rate due to the change in mood) everyone sat or stood about the dining pavilion, preparing for the game. "You aren't wearing armour?" Percy asked when he strolled over – I could at least appreciate the gesture, it wasn't like I had many others I could speak to.

"I prefer not to. Impedes movement too much for my taste" I responded. Protection was all well and good, but I didn't intend on getting hit – and if I did the demon increased my healing rate anyway, and as long as I didn't use too much power it wouldn't try to take control.

I looked over our team "Any notes on how these guys fight?"

He looked over the assembled campers on our side, taking a minute to gather his thoughts before answering "We've got a good mix of offensive and defensive fighters, but none of our fighters are good at range"

"Meaning we need good cover or to blindside them if they try to take us out from a distance" I responded. Percy at least thought to cover a good detail on how well our offense and defence would be, which could prove helpful.

"What about Nico?" Percy responded – I'd expected somebody to ask considering the ten year old with a day's worth of training would be joining us.

"He'll make good offense, but could do with someone to watch his back. They'll underestimate him, I'm sure" Percy seemed surprised at my faith in Nico's abilities but made no move to protest – either he trusted my judgement or was choosing to pass judgement on Nico's performance once the game began.

Thalia came over to us "I'll take offense – you two take defence, is that okay?" Percy seemed torn at her statement – I expect he'd been about to offer something similar.

"Yeah," I agreed "That should work out nicely." At Percy's inquisitive look I answered "As far as campers go you two are meant to be the strongest fighters right? So it's better to split you up to keep a strong offense and defence and could probably serve to raise team morale on both ends."

Thalia nodded in agreement "Plus there's a lower chance of something going wrong if we have someone that can strategize on the fly around – think you're up to the challenge?" she asked me.

I smirked "Don't think sticking me in defence means you won't get a chance to see me in a fight."

Thalia turned and walked away to help some other campers prepare. I glanced at Percy "Don't worry about it. Sometimes dealing with Thalia can be confusing, not to mention awkward. She might blame you for what happened to Annabeth," Percy's gaze lowered in shame "but she also blames herself. She knows she can't judge you for what you did because she'd have done the same – hell, I would have too."

"Why do you do that?" he questioned "Why keep comparing us? We're two completely different people."

"Maybe," I supplied "But our situations were similar – the only difference is I was older and had to mature a lot faster because of it. I know what it's like to have a friend in that situation and be told you can't do anything about it." He nodded in acknowledgement to the truth in my statement, but I wasn't done.

I lowered my voice "I also know what it's like to break all the rules for the sake of getting that friend back." Percy looked at me in confusion, but chose not to comment. What I'd said was an offer – if he'd willingly break the rules to save Annabeth I'd be ready and willing to go with him.

It was funny if you considered the fact that I'd barely spoken to Percy and really we barely knew anything of each other and I was saying such things, but I guess I'd never change.

"I'll watch out for Nico" he offered "You keep an eye out for anything else. You said you could sense things, right?"

"Yeah" I answered "But between the barrier around camp and all the energy from the magical stuff around camp I'm not sure how much of a radius I'll have – sensory stuff was never my best skill, not by a long shot."

Percy accepted that, and with a nod of acknowledgement headed over to Nico – who had at least taken enough of my training in mind to ditch the helmet. Instead he wore similar armour to the other campers, bar the fact his seemed to be fitted to his smaller frame and possibly made lighter at the cost of some defence. I'd guess he'd visited Beckendorf about it at some point during the day.

The sound of hooves – undoubtedly Chiron's – shattered the sounds of preparation and planning like glass. "Heroes!" he called "You know the rules! The creek is the boundary line. Blue team – Camp Half-Blood – shall take the west woods. Hunters of Artemis – red team – shall take the east woods. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. No intentional maiming, please!" I let out a sigh of relief "All magic items are allowed. To your positions!"

Thalia called next "Blue team! Follow me!" I had to hand it to her, Thalia at least knew a few things about leading – the team cheered and followed. Though I had to catch Percy before he tripped over a shield.

Keeping up with the rest of the team wasn't too hard while traversing the woods – I had no armour slowing me down and caught up to Thalia at the front rapidly. I couldn't help the smug grin that found its way upon my face as I kept pace with her.

The flag got set at a mound of boulders that somebody had referred to as Zeus's fist – I guessed I'd have to stand in a really elaborate position for it to not look like a pile of crap. Either way the flag was set up high and was clearly visible – within the rules set.

Assuming I could extend the rule of 'All magic items allowed' to 'All spiritual items allowed' I fished my Combat Pass from my pocket and the Fullbring spread up the length of my arm, the shield manifesting in place.

Looks of surprise came from a few of the campers at the sight of the shield, Percy and Thalia included seeing as they probably hadn't gotten too good a look at it back at Westover. After the moment of surprise fell away Percy and Nico stood to either side of me when Thalia addressed the team.

"We'll send out a decoy to the left," she stated "Silena, you lead that."

"Got it!" one of the girls on our team confirmed.

"Take Laurel and Jason. They're good runners. Make a wide arc around the Hunters, attract as many as you can. I'll take the main raiding party around to the right and catch them by surprise." The team made sounds of agreement, and I had to admit Thalia made a great leader despite the short amount of time she'd spent at Camp.

She fixed her gaze on Percy and I "Anything to add?" I'm pretty sure I heard a few surprised murmurs that she seemed to be addressing us both – especially when the only prominent camper who knew me (bar Thalia and Percy) was Beckendorf.

"Yeah," Percy answered "Keep sharp on defence. We've got four guards, two scouts. That's not much for a big forest. Be sure to yell if you need help."

"And don't leave your post!" Thalia responded. The way she said it made me sure she still wasn't over what happened at Westover.

"Unless you see a golden opportunity." Percy added.

That was probably the wrong choice of words for Percy to say – seeing as the last time he'd taken what was seemingly 'a golden opportunity', it ended with Annabeth missing. I'm not saying that's the logical train of thought – I wasn't even there – but I'd guessed that'd be Thalia's train of thought.

She scowled and I chose to interject "He's right. If we keep the majority of our defence here we can hold the area, but we can probably still spare one or two fighters. The forest is a big place – they're bound to leave holes in their defence that we can run straight through. If we're fast enough we can be in and out without a problem." I knew opposing Thalia probably wasn't the wisest thing to do – but Percy did have a point. If a move could be made against orders that still got us a victory then it was a move that should be taken.

Somebody on our team snickered "By the Gods there's _two_ of them." I'm unsure what they meant to this day.

Thalia sighed "Just make sure it doesn't cost us a victory, okay?" I'm pretty convinced the 'two of them' comment meant two people stubborn – or dumb – enough to oppose Thalia, either way she conceded to being outnumbered (and the fact I'd explained it from a strategical standpoint).

"Now, is everybody clear?" she called.

The team nodded or gave affirmation. The team separated into the individual groups previously stated and the horn sounded. The game had begun.

* * *

 **A Protector Until The End**

* * *

Once the main raiding party and the diversion group left us the tense feeling as the game started (in my mind, at least) ebbed away into a sort of anticlimactic feeling. In all honesty it was probably because I didn't have experience with sports like this – the only similar thing I could think of was paintball, really – except in this I doubt I'd see Keigo run out like a madman and get nailed by the entire enemy team at once.

Moments passed into minutes and minutes dragged onwards. Nico and Beckendorf and the others continued to patrol around and I'd reached a point where I'd casually leaned my sword against the rock next to me and was leaning against the rock as well, fiddling with my shield and the gauntlet it was attached to.

I didn't hear Percy's original request, but I heard him state confidently "I'm going in." that rang alarm bells in my mind. Glancing to either side (and extending my senses as far as possible) I could tell they'd left minimal defence for their flag, and their team had separated to take on _both_ our offenses.

So that was it, Thalia had been spotted and Percy wanted to use their distraction to make a beeline straight to their base. Something in my mind rang out that this was wrong – too easy – they were meant to be _Hunters_ , for crying out loud!

The part of my brain I listened to however, was the part that acknowledged this idea of Percy's might go smoother if he actually thought to ask for backup.

So I followed.

"Nico! With me!" I called as I raced after Percy, a few seconds behind. I'd seen Nico's speed – he had that 'seemingly endless energy' that ten year olds commonly possessed (the only reason I'd ever concede to being beaten at soccer by Karin and her friends), so I didn't doubt he'd be able to keep close enough.

"I'll get the flag," I told Percy "Stay behind in case it's a trap or ambush. This is _too_ easy – and not in the good way." He reluctantly nodded and I piled on the speed. Instincts took over as I sprinted, jumping rocks and roots alike. I didn't trust the over-visibility of their flag, but the only assurance I had it might not have been a trap was that the rules stated flags had to be obvious.

Unfortunately, they chose the one guard that (while I may have still had suppressed anger towards) I wouldn't try to attack. My only advantage was that I was fast enough that Bianca only saw me after I'd doubled back with their flag.

Hindsight is not twenty-twenty; I wish I'd swallowed my concepts of 'honour' and 'not attacking armed thirteen year old girls'. It sure would've made getting the flag back easier. She called out my presence and that I'd obtained their flag around three seconds after I'd passed her – barely enough time to cross the creek, let alone get to the other end of the forest.

The first Hunter was signalled by an arrow that flew through the trees but apparently misinterpreted my speed – it zoomed by half a meter behind me. The second one exploded against a nearby tree in a flash of light, blinding me.

Too late to recover, I immediately realised. The Hunter charged through the trees a meter ahead of me and I had to drop the flag in the snow to bring my shield up to block. The Hunter expected the jab that followed my parry and ducked off to the side, aiming a jab with the hilt of her knife at my side.

Silently my shield released from the gauntlet that held it and I swung my arm around backwards, the armoured punch forcing the Hunter back. On command my shield reappeared attached to the gauntlet and I raised my blade against her.

Capture The Flag games had too many 'I should've noticed that moments' however, when I realised this Hunter had shown up far too quickly for where it seemed to have travelled from. "Percy!" I called, hoping for backup.

Once more too slow to realise, the other two Hunters emerged from the trees – and Bianca followed them through.

"Realistically," I began "When dealing with Hunters, I already figured some sort of ambush would be involved." The Hunter in the centre – who I recognised as the one from 'Sword VS Basketball' – gave me an unimpressed look and drew a knife.

I weighed out my options and frantically searched my immediate senses for the spiritual energy. That was why Percy hadn't responded – Nightshade had flanked them and Thalia's group was still distracted.

Well, I knew I was completely betting my luck on Nightshade underestimating us or Percy's ability to stall for time, but I executed the first plan to come to mind anyway. Faster than the Hunters could react or try to stop me, I scooped up the flagpole and tossed it in the general direction like a javelin, following it with the yell of "Nico! Catch!"

Another quick check and I realised my earlier thoughts must've jinxed Percy. Somehow Nightshade had passed him and he was playing catch-up. Nico had halted, presumably hearing my command and Nightshade had yet to notice that I'd played javelin toss with their flag. The Hunters standing opposite me stayed in a standoffish position – they aimed to distract me so Zoë could pass through without delay and they probably believed it too late for our youngest member to retrieve the flag and cart it to our base.

The Hunters had cockiness and the pride befitting several dozen consecutive wins on their side. I had unpredictability, stupidity and blind luck on mine. That was why the last thing they expected was what I did. I dropped my sword, made a short sprint to cross the distance towards the tall Hunter – in which she brought up her knife in expectation of attack. Then I swung my right arm out and pivoted ninety degrees to my left – and promptly clotheslined an unaware Zoë Nightshade when she emerged from the trees.

Zoë went tumbling and I grabbed our flag the moment she'd dropped it. Bianca helped pick her up and the other Hunters were still frozen in surprise. I jabbed the flag into the ground behind me and picked up my blade.

"You want it?" I challenged "Then come and get it."

* * *

 **A Protector Until The End**

* * *

I might not have known games of capture the flag. I might not have known Greek Gods and monsters or handmaidens of a goddess or people with goat asses.

But I sure as hell knew how to fight like my life depended on it – and when it's a game of capture the flag against the Hunters of Artemis and you end up in a standoff with _five_ of them (one very much irate Zoë Nightshade included), it may as well become a fight for your life.

Though at this point I didn't exactly know that, which is why Zoë's speed caught me off guard and I had to hastily block and bash her back with as much force as I could to avoid letting them gain ground on me. Instinct took over and I ducked under the first arrow that whizzed by and brought my sword over to destroy the second one before it could impale me.

One glance to their group and I could at least vaguely understand their strategy – they were pinning a lot of their plan on Zoë's ability to get past me and essentially do what I had with their flag and pass it out of the group, most likely to Bianca who had yet to join the fray. Unfortunately that left four out of the five Hunters (Bianca included) that were present before – one of them had most likely dashed off at the first chance that I wouldn't follow to retrieve their flag.

So it was almost a race against time and against whatever odds had been stacked up. Either Nico would retrieve their flag and get it back to our base or the Hunter would stop him – and if the Hunters got past me they'd get our flag and take the victory.

Well, by now I definitely understood why Thalia seemed so competitive about capture the flag – or at least my instincts for battle understood it, as much as I hate to say (the voice telling me that sounded like a cross between my inner Hollow and Kenpachi, which was terrifying enough on its own).

'The best defence is a good offence' was the strategy that seemed most appropriate, and was what inspired me to let my shield dissolve before hastily jamming the badge into my pocket – I wasn't going to take my gaze away from Zoë or either of her flanking archers. No way was I gonna lose because I didn't want to drop my badge. Either way I was better suited for fighting without the shield anyway, I'd mostly used it before because it was the closest thing I had to any semblance of spiritual power in the event of a Hollow attack.

Either way the shield seemed like overkill for the situation. The way I saw it was that while they had the increased physical capabilities their 'gifts' as Hunters gave them, but I had the increased physical capabilities of someone used to fighting at incomprehensible speeds with the strength to destroy buildings, so in my eyes I was probably on par. It seemed like there was no time better than the present to test the theory, anyway.

Zoë charged at me and I stepped into it, locking her hunting knife against my larger blade. One of her hands freed itself of her blade and darted to the sheath at her hip where her other knife resided and I used the chance to push her back towards her fellow Hunters.

She brought her other knife out in a lightning fast stab that I dodged to the side of before having to launch myself back when the other Hunter slashed where I had stood before. Naturally they'd take the advantage offered by numbers, emphasised when I had to follow up by blocking an arrow and shifting myself so the one that followed grazed past me.

I knew I should've thought about it before wearing white that day.

The archer was a problem, alone I could probably keep up with Nightshade and the other Hunter (key word: probably, I still didn't know how much more they could be capable of). So I chose to fight like I meant it, much the way they seemed to be. I charged again, swinging my blade out so I locked it sideways against both of Nightshade's knifes before darting my foot out into the other Hunter's gut when she tried to repeat her earlier move. I proceeded by ducking backwards to let an arrow fly by – instincts were a _wonderful_ thing – before using my full strength to shove Zoë backwards and dashing at the Hunter who fired the offending arrow with my sword out.

My guess came true. Not only was it a tactical decision to have two Hunters face me at close range and two at range, with Bianca also standing near the edge of the clearing to receive and flee with the flag as well as take whatever shots she could with her bow, it was also a play of skill: their strongest melee fighters were facing me up front while their weaker allies stayed at a range. That was why the Hunter ducked back when I charged in an effort to avoid me or perhaps divert me back to her allies, allowing me the perfect opportunity to – instead of attacking her, as they may have thought I would – slash across, reducing her bow into two useless pieces of wood and whatever semblance of a drawstring that remained to hold them together.

I turned and the blonde Hunter was on me again, the unreadable expression of determination towards victory most of her sisters also seemed to share bar Bianca, who still held an air of nervousness or uncertainty. She'd knocked me to the ground and was making an attempt to keep me down – she was stalling while Nightshade got the flag. I'd gotten overzealous and moved them too far out and left it wide open.

I used both of my booted feet to kick the Hunter's weight off me and brought my sword upwards in a strike that launched her blade skyward when she attempted a stab at me before I embedded my fist in her gut and made a sprint to the already moving Zoë Nightshade who was in possession of our flag. A sharp pain spread out from my lower back but quickly dulled, I wasn't going to slow down for anything.

Luckily for me I had superior speed on my side. The moment I got ahead of her the broad side of my blade shot out and knocked her back. The pain in my back was more defined now, but I chose to ignore it – most likely another scrape or something I'd landed on when I'd been knocked over.

Luck was _not_ on my side today. Another flash rang out, another flashbang-like arrow most likely. I'd stood on the flag and held my blade parallel to myself, but there was little I could do without vision– those arrows weren't normal material, it seemed to mess with my sensory abilities too. Instincts cried out and I diverted a strike along the length of my arm, a similar pain running out along it. The pain in my back was much more defined now – definitely _not_ something I fell on.

I would not go down. I _refused_ to go down. I would not lose. Without my vision and ability to sense them I was little more than blind instinct that deflected whatever attacks I could and retaliated, unable to move lest they take the flag that I'd planted myself on top of after I'd knocked down Nightshade.

Pain had a funny way of affecting my sense of time sometimes, what felt like a long time of fighting for me was probably only a few minutes but that didn't matter to me. Without my senses I felt defenceless, and the pain had increased to a roar in my ear.

A ghost of a voice – definitely not my Inner Hollow or Zanpakuto, they had been gone with my powers so long ago – but a voice that sounded suspiciously like my own. Why hold back? What happened to the warrior that pushed himself long past his limits to attain victory, to win no matter what?

You're pathetic.

That voice, one that I wish so greatly I hadn't listened to. Roaring pain and instinct that I was still under attack and not fighting back with intent to kill took over – that was all I could really describe as justifications for what I did next, something that until instinctually attempted I thought impossible.

In a moment of pure instinct my senses cleared, and I saw Nightshade and the other Hunter, as well as multiple others approaching. Not only did I see the other Hunter getting in close with an attack I saw that Nightshade and her appearing backup were also prepared to join the fray to remove me, and further away I saw Percy and a couple of other campers trying to delay their backup – without Nico. The smell of blood, undoubtedly my own, came into this moment of enhanced senses. With all these factors in place we were probably set to win the game, Nico must've gotten their flag without being stopped – but it was too late to stop that one insane moment of pure instinct and intent to fight with full strength.

My blade swung out, harsh bluish-white light screaming along the blade even as the metal protested, creating a cacophony of noise. The words left my lips as easily as they had undoubtedly hundreds of times before, and it was too late to alter my course.

"Getsuga Tensho!"

I remember the blade in my grasp disappearing and a blast of white light.

And noise, a lot of noise. Along with what quickly felt like a burning sensation soar up my arm until it all _stopped_.

* * *

 **Anyway, I took the professional advice of a friend who writes and decided to be an asshole and leave a slight cliffhanger – plus it was 7.8K words and I feel like I've made you all wait too long for more updates.**

 **Opinions on the writing in this chapter are greatly appreciated - I'm still getting the hang of writing fight scenes in third person in my other story, so doing them in first person is a whole nother ballpark for me. I also want to hear what people thought of the change in the CTF game and if it was a positive change or not.**

 **Honestly, I don't think I have much else to say bar an update stating I'm sorry to readers of To Shatter Fate because I haven't even started the next chapter on that and mention that I have started writing the next chapter of this story purely as a way of reassuring myself in my writing abilities.**

 **Anyway, reviews are appreciated as always- See ya next time :D**


	9. Debatable Rulebreaking

**It returns! Sorry chapters take so long, there's no real excuse other than lacking inspiration or motivation to write.**

 **Anyway, I don't own anything I portray in this story that so many people are reading for some reason.**

* * *

 **A Protector Until The End: Chapter 9: I Don't Necessarily** _ **Break**_ **The Rules, I Just Bend Them At** _ **Extremely**_ **Untried Angles**

* * *

At this point in time I had many complaints regarding my most recent set of life choices. My ears were ringing, I couldn't hear much of anything and nor could I see much of anything. All I really understood was the ongoing pain filtering throughout my system, which only really served to tell me I'd attempted to force spiritual energy through a bronze blade and somehow hadn't killed myself in the process.

I'd just hurt myself. A fucking _lot_ , which was a considerably better result than I'd expected seeing as I shouldn't have even been able to attempt using a Getsuga without Zangetsu or my powers _._

Enough logical thought had returned for me to recognise my mistake. It had to have been the Demon. It _just had to be_. Nothing else would've inspired thoughts that made me do something like that, something that no doubt put my life and the lives of those around me at risk.

Great, just what I needed: Being outcasted as a freak or someone untrustworthy just over a day after arriving here. Just my luck. I wasn't trying to sound insensitive towards any I could've hurt by accident in the blast but realistically there wasn't much I could do until my senses returned enough so I could find out what happened and help with the fallout of what I'd done and/or apologise for all damage caused to any Campers or Hunters and the forest.

Or in layman's terms, I knew I'd messed up. Badly.

Which is evidently why I wasn't _too_ surprised that the moment my hearing become coherent what I mostly made out was cursing most likely aimed at me – though old English wasn't something I understood so well but I got the gist Nightshade probably wanted me dead now. Naturally, her voice – while loud – wasn't the only to pierce the metaphoric shroud that was my returning hearing, and I couldn't stop the pang of guilt at Thalia's worried tone as she either muttered things at me or commanded other campers.

Slowly, my vision also returned, and with it the almost expected sight of Thalia next to me with presumably a first aid kit while others who were probably nearby got the same treatment. The feeling against my back – through whatever blood soaked my shirt, or what was left of it – indicated I was probably leaned against a tree or a rock, as well as the feeling of cloth around me that wasn't present before – most likely bandages over new wounds.

My throat felt like I'd chugged something acidic and watered it down with gravel, but I had to say it aloud anyway "Sorry" I coughed "Looks like I messed up pretty badly."

Her gaze fell on my now open eyes as the rest of my vision cleared, her eyes reflecting conflicting emotions at my state. Aside I could see Hunters aiding others whom I'd most likely caught with the misfired attack. I call it a misfire because a Getsuga never could've caused this kind of carnage, I'd always been more focused with them unless my aim was to cause damage – except this time I had no control over the attack. My arm was still numb but I could see only the hilt of the blade remaining, but more prevalent was the landscape in the area around us.

Foliage had been torn free and scattered, along with fragments of rock and _shards_ of tree, as if fired out like projectiles while the rest of the area looked like it had simply been vaporised what with the small crater centred in the clearing holding a burning piece of cloth that was probably the Hunters' flag.

"It's not your fault," Thalia chided, her tone forcibly calm as she tried to wrap bandaging around my now-burnt arm "Can you just tell me what happened? Nightshade's so furious about whatever attacked that nobody seems able to understand her." A pang of guilt ran through me, maybe because I knew I deserved to be blamed when they thought it something else.

Another pang of guilt as the thought of lying briefly flittered across my mind, but was ignored as I recalled my promise to myself that I didn't want to continue lying. I replied "Actually it _is_ my fault," Thalia's gaze found my eyes and her own narrowed, most likely to deny or get annoyed that I continued to disagree with what she said before I continued "I was the one that did _that_." I used the arm I still had most control over to gesture to the scene before us, to the wrecked fragment of the once pristine forest that I'd eviscerated, for lack of a better word.

"How?" her response was instant, yet her voice didn't raise. Instead she appeared hesitant despite how quickly the question escaped her, but her tone held no anger towards me.

"I don't know, it just _happened_. I ," I faltered, unable to describe the rapid feelings of guilt and anger towards myself for what I'd done "I lost control." I could at least see the irony – I'd spent so long worrying about my Inner Hollow taking control and hurting people that long after he was gone his power had become mindless on its own – and now it had forced me to hurt people, something I'd long since abandoned fearing because I thought him and his power gone.

Thalia fell silent, continuing to bandage my wounds. I made no attempt to continue speaking as Chiron appeared with Nico – who looked happily triumphant until his eyes fell upon the scene. I guess I hadn't been unconscious too long. The pain in my sustained injuries had dulled greatly and while Thalia finished bandaging a final wound Zoë's gaze fell upon me and quickly turned murderous. I could practically feel the intent to kill from her, if I didn't see it reflected entirely and completely in her eyes.

"Foolish knave!" and "Despicable _man_!" were among the only few things in her stream of curses that I actually understood, but her raised voice attracted eyes all around the surrounding group. It was predictably easy to tell this situation wasn't going anywhere good.

"Thou would use deadly force in sport? Arrogant fool," she stated and I guessed I was lucky she was at least talking in a way I could just about understand; at least I think that was lucky – I'd be insulted by what she said after I stopped thinking all of her anger towards me seemed justified, though that gave her all the leeway she needed to continue "Milady should have turned though into a creature befitting such a dishonest, dishonourable," her voice had raised with every word as she approached. Hunter and Camper alike watched her approach and Chiron made to start moving, perhaps to intercept her before she did something regrettable – though I doubt she'd see killing me that way at this point.

I didn't realise Thalia had moved until the bolt of lightning shot past Zoë with the shout of "Shut up!" that accompanied it. Looking at her, I could see that Thalia looked pretty much livid, whether with Zoë in general or the continuous curses she seemed to be throwing with reckless abandon and rage. Sparks, small but noticeable, arced off Thalia's spear and seemingly around her before disappearing.

Zoë's voice held no less of an edge "Thou wouldst defend him?" her hand inched towards the hunting knife re-sheathed at her waist, gaze fixed on my friend. The fact it seemed like she may have been willing to start a fight with Thalia to get to me was probably what kicked my exhausted mind back into full operation despite the massive amount the previous fight had taken out of me.

The glare-off continued for several seconds after Zoë's question, but Thalia's spear raising higher against Nightshade definitely voiced her answer – she was willing to fight Zoë for my sake when Zoë was trying to achieve whatever she believed as justice for injured Hunters. As far as I could sense with what little Reiatsu I had left none of the Hunters had died, but I'd definitely left a couple in bad shape – whether from the brunt of the attack or from the debris shot loose by the blast.

"Thalia, Zoë – Stop!" Chiron commanded, but even his commanding tone was drowned out in the apparent suspense over what could be about to occur.

Everyone else seemed to have halted as well, as if even Chiron saw that he wouldn't be able to do much to solve the situation peacefully without physically restraining them before they started attacking each other – though glancing to the side I could see he was also working on the injuries sustained by Campers and Hunters alike, to which I assumed he saw the injuries as more important that stopping the potential fight. Mr D stood leaned against a tree to the side drinking a Diet Coke, watching as if it was a show for his entertainment.

"Move thyself, Grace." Zoë commanded, her knife free of its sheathe and held in the same standoffish way Thalia stood with her spear, as if they were both ready to attack at a moment's notice.

"Like hell I will" Thalia ground out, anger lacing her tone and a scowl set firmly on her face. If the sense of déjà vu didn't indicate something similar had happened before I don't know what did, either way this needed to stop and the only way that would probably happen was if Zoë got what she wanted.

So I took the opportunity opened because nobody else was saying anything and the two girls were too focused on what could become a fight if someone (read: I) didn't stop it before it started. I caught Zoë's glare on me as I brought myself to stand, moving with a slight limp until I'd moved into Thalia's field of vision as well.

At the apparent movement the moment of standoff seemed to be broken and Zoë instead turned her blade against me with a growl.

I kept limping past.

She made an indignant yell shortly followed by a cry of warning from Thalia, I'd already half expected it.

Wetness flowed between my fingers, the expected crimson liquid dripping through the gaps from where I'd grabbed her knife by the blade the moment it made any indication of movement.

It had been subtle, but I'd noticed it happening ever since I'd first encountered their group; the slow change in mind set, like an unused piece of knowledge or muscle finally receiving use after a long time. It was slow, which was why this would be the earliest point I'd have acknowledged it actually happening.

It wasn't a situation where jokes or humour could be made, nor was it one where I could see light being made from the situation. Instead my scowl seemed to reinforce itself in an expression I knew I probably hadn't held in, what was for me, about two years.

"If you wanted to kill me then you'd have done it by now if you were smart." I stated, recalling battles where you could be killed by the presence of your enemy alone if you overestimated your own ability "Whether you want to hear it I _am_ sorry for what happened and I was _not_ in control and whether you care to know or not I refuse to let it happen again."

I released the dagger and turned away, continuing my ongoing limp away from the area. "If you actually want to kill me instead of simply releasing frustration," I advised "Attack me with intent to kill. I'm too experienced for you to half-ass it, whether you want to acknowledge me or not." I thought I'd silenced her with what I'd said, or ideally placated her against starting a fight. I heard speaking behind me but instead set my focus towards getting back to my car – at least nobody who held anything against me would show up there, if they even knew I had a car or that it was so close to the camp.

As quickly as I thought I had ended the situation – and crossed the clearing away from most of the campers – I realised I hadn't. The hissing incorporeal voice dispelled all thoughts the moment it appeared, shocking me as I clutched my head as if to repel the foreign voice (my head was a no go for any incorporeal voices other than Zangetsu, rule number one of Ichigo's mind).

" _Five shall go west to the goddess in chains,_

 _One shall be lost in the land without rain,_

 _The bane of Olympus shows the trail,_

 _Campers and Hunters combined prevail,_

 _The Titan's curse must one withstand,_

 _And one shall perish by a parent's hand."_

The invading presence disappeared the moment the obscure poem finished. I didn't have a damn clue _what_ the voice belonged to that invaded my mind, but anything I'd heard so far as to why a certain God disliked me indicated one thing.

So _those_ were what those prophecies were I'd been told I was apparently good at breaking.

* * *

 **A Protector Until The End**

* * *

"When you counter, you don't let them cut you. When you protect someone, you don't let them die. When you attack, you kill." I recalled aloud, uncaring of if anyone was around to hear me. Why I'd gone to recalling Kisuke's words during training I wasn't sure – perhaps as a comfort of recalling something I'd lived by for so long.

I wasn't sure how long I'd been sitting in the car – long enough for it to get dark – but after fixing the bandages left unfinished due to my abrupt departure from the site of the Capture the Flag game I'd been left alone with my thoughts, and honestly after what had happened that was probably the most beneficial thing of all.

Re-evaluating, that's what it was – something I'd probably picked up when I no longer had life threatening battles every other week was looking back and recalling every detail I could on all the battles I'd fought. I'd recall every mistake or misstep I'd made and tell myself that if ever given the opportunity to fight battles like that again I wouldn't make those mistakes and nobody would suffer because of any I did make.

Except now I'd made a mistake and harmed people who didn't deserve it in a game that was meant to be a _sport_. Recalling Kisuke's lessons once more I came to the conclusion, after what was probably an hour, that it was my mindset.

Every battle I fought before today had always been simple – none where I'd have to hold back because my enemy would never show me the same mercy under any circumstances. I had the mindset of someone who'd experienced their battles against _people_ where these Campers – and most likely the Hunters were the same – who were trained to fight monsters, not people.

They were as I was before Kisuke had trained me – they held back against other people for fear of killing where I went full force unless given reason otherwise, or maybe it was just they had better experience holding back against human opponents where I'd otherwise have to force myself to or limit my own strength. I'd laughed at this thought – I'd never thought the training I'd received from Kisuke was ever a problem or hindrance until now, far too late to amend the damage done. I might've been trained by him, but I definitely hadn't learned any of his vast intelligence – a rather traitorous part of my brain decided.

I groaned – these thoughts were _pointless_. They wouldn't lead me to some great discovery just thinking about mistakes and the reasons behind them – the same conclusion I usually had when recalling my other past battles, too.

It wasn't like I had much else to think on either – even after finding the Di Angelo siblings, my only apparent lead towards my answer; I was left with no clue where to go next or what to do. The prophecy I'd heard earlier didn't concern me or my answers at all – probably a link to whatever reason Apollo disliked me, maybe that I was truly unpredictable to them. The only real things I could garner from the prophecy were the obvious – some goddess in trouble, Campers and Hunters had to rescue her and the two blatantly obvious lines that could've only been more explicit if it dropped two named death certificates in the hands of all who heard it.

I didn't remember much mythology but for some reason the depressiveness of knowing people would die didn't seem unusual compared to the other thoughts since I'd been dragged into this apparent other-world to the one I was accustomed to.

"Drachma for your thoughts?" a familiar voice asked.

I still wasn't sure what to think in the grand scheme of things – the things said by the Manticore had pertained to me as much as it had the others, as if yet another bastard with a god complex wanted me in on his scheme. And then there was the other situation I couldn't make heads or tails of – _one currently rapping her knuckles against the side of my head._

My hand shot out to knock away the tapping fist before I shot her a dry look "Really?" I deadpanned.

She shrugged noncommittally "You were zoned out again," she stopped to look at the car before returning her gaze to me "that can't seriously be comfortable for you." She stated, commenting on my position sitting in the driver's seat of the car with the door wide open, my legs crossed in front of me in a familiar meditative position, almost like Jinzen if I was even able to enter my inner world anymore. What she was referring to however was that due to the limited space in the front seat of the car my folded legs instead were semi-folded due to the steering wheel being in the way, making it look as if I was sitting weirdly with no apparent reason.

I removed myself from the apparent awkward sitting position before replacing myself in the passenger seat, beckoning Thalia to sit in the driver's seat I'd previously occupied ( we never really had _short_ conversations, so we may as well have gotten comfortable first). "Meditation helps me think" I replied.

"Didn't really look like meditation to me," she replied, smirking before she continued "But then again, you do always have to do everything in some form that goes against what's seen as normal."

"Or maybe you just don't know what actual meditation looks like," I retorted, slipping back into casual bantering.

"Not that, I know that much." She replied before the smile on her face contorted towards concern "Are you okay? That was really dumb, what you did before" so the bantering was definitely over, make way for the meaningful conversations or something to that extent, yay.

It was clear there were two ways this conversation could go (technically three, but I wasn't going to lie anymore) so I went with option two, straight to the point instead of skirting around the subject. "I was never trained to fight in sport or anything like that," I began "The way I was trained was pretty simple, whether it's a monster you're fighting or a person you attack with intent to kill because if you don't you're already dead." I sighed, it was by far the bluntest way I could put it but I felt Thalia didn't deserve more skirting around the subject or lying after what had happened.

The silence didn't give any reassurance to what her reaction was to my honesty, and it was only after what felt much longer than what was probably only a couple of minutes did reassurance come in the form of her hand gripping mine, not so tight as to cause harm to the wound where I'd decided to grab Nightshade's dagger that I'd absentmindedly bandaged after losing myself in thought on returning to the car.

"If you being honest about what you've been through is that intense I should feel worse about trying to pressure you into telling me." Her voice had lowered, probably without her even realising, as she spoke. Maybe I'd expected to be told that the mindset I possessed would be that of someone who would kill without remorse or some other such being considered unforgiveable, yet instead she was the one who looked down in guilt.

I gripped her hand in my own, wondering how talking like this and being honest and confiding in each other suddenly became so _normal_ in such little time, a total enigma in my mind. "You don't feel as bad as you think you should because you want to be able to see the pieces," I said, beckoned to continue when she raised her head to look at me questioningly "Back then we told each other everything because we relied on one another, remember? You can tell that I," I hesitated, puzzling in my mind for the simplest way to define myself "that I'm _broken_ , in a way. Parts of me you knew and keep trying to see are shattered into unrecognisable pieces that you want to see, to recognise better the 'me' that you knew back then."

Thalia relaxed back into the seat, taking in the concept of what I'd said before replying "I kind of understand what you're saying, but I don't think you're very good at analogies or explanations or being supportive while trying to do the other two".

I shrugged "What I mean is you keep wanting to know because you care" I explained. It was at least uplifting to see parallels between what I remembered of the past and what was now, we still supported each other…

She questioned "Then why didn't you start with that?" and we still had our own weird brand of conversations.

Seeing the apparent need for a new topic Thalia said "Nightshade calmed down after you left and _despite_ having ravaged that section of the forest worse than a pile of landmines none of the Hunters were in critical conditions, they were unconscious and between Chiron and the Apollo cabin their wounds should be gone within a few days at most."

At mention of that a tension I didn't know I'd been feeling released "That's good to hear. I overestimated my own ability and when things got too tough instincts took over and it went too far."

"You don't need to worry about it, they'll be fine. At this point after all you've said I'm not sure if it's surprising or not that you managed to take on several Hunters at once, even if they held back to avoid causing serious damage." She responded, a light smile returning to her face. Of course, the way she'd stated that definitely rang against my more… competitive side.

"You just don't wanna admit I might actually be a decent fighter, do you?" I deadpanned, looking for any indication or faltering in her expression.

"No, I'd never go _that_ far," she mocked, she was definitely mocking me now "I'm just saying for you to last as long as you did they must've held back more than they would against others." Oh, now it was _on_.

"Sure," I replied "Because Nightshade runs through a treeline blindly and gets clotheslined by me because she was holding back." I retorted, sarcasm evidently lacing my tone.

"Maybe that just makes her more of an idiot for underestimating you." Thalia replied – evidently I was kinda surprised, seeing is that almost sounded like a backhanded compliment, though the subject of Nightshade brought another question to mind.

"You guys didn't try to kill each other on my account after I left, right?" I questioned, hoping I'd receive the ideal (but unlikely seeing as it was _Thalia)_ answer of 'No'.

"No," Okay, I'm pretty sure I took the term 'colour me surprised' literally seeing as Thalia followed her statement with a look at my response but instead of commenting sighed in exasperation (how _I_ was the exasperating one here I wouldn't understand), and instead continued "The Oracle showing up sort of… killed the tension."

I didn't miss the hesitation that came immediately after she mentioned 'The Oracle' and drawing a line between two sometimes associated words, such as 'Oracles' and 'Prophecies' spawned my response "That's what you came to talk about, right? That prophecy."

Thalia lamented "So onto the serious part of the conversation it is then" she sighed "To give the briefest explanation prophecies lead to quests being issued, sending a number of campers as heroes to complete it."

Jeez, my ability to draw lines between two points must've been on point today "And you're one of the five?"

She nodded "It's going to be me, Grover, Nightshade, Bianca Di Angelo and that Hunter that looked ready to kill someone with a basketball." I felt my eyebrows rise at Bianca's name.

My surprise quickly turned into deadpan when I processed how unbelievably _idiotic_ that sounded "They're sending a kid who's been a Hunter for all of about two and a half days on a quest."

Thalia shrugged "It happens, plus Nightshade was the one to choose which Hunters would accompany her royal pain in the ass. If it counts, Water Boy had his first quest not long after he first came to camp, too." That probably settled my nerves by the equivalent of a few inches, I guess.

"I thought he'd be going with you if I'm honest" Thalia was in the same group with Percy and Grover back at Westover, so it made more sense in my mind to send someone like Percy with experience over someone with no experience or training like Bianca.

Another shrug and a mildly annoyed look from Thalia "Nightshade is pretty much the poster girl, or the mouth behind the megaphone, for the 'No Boys' club," Thalia saw my eyebrow rise in response and guessed what I'd have said "Grover's a Satyr, technically doesn't count as male."

I took a minute to take in what I'd been told before settling back into my seat with a sigh "And I suppose this is you telling me it's safer that I stay put at camp while you go on this quest?"

Thalia nodded, holding a guilty gaze as she did "Thorn said his masters had some kind of interest in you, and that puts you in danger outside of camp. Sorry, Chiron's orders." Her gaze rose again and she smiled "Plus, your concern over Bianca is to do with her brother getting left behind, so at least if you're still here he has someone to keep him company." I knew Thalia was trying to make me less put out about being told to stay put, especially when neither of us had mentioned the prophesised deaths that would occur on this quest, but it didn't help that the so-called unbreakable prophecy dictated two deaths would occur while two of my friends and Nico's only family was on this quest.

I dropped the subject, starting an argument with Thalia on this would mean nothing especially considering my only two arguments were not wanting them to go because people would die or telling them to let me join them when I wasn't one of them. Instead I opened the car door and stepped out once more into the frigid winter air "Well then I guess we should get back there, I'm guessing the psycho chicken ladies come out soon?"

Thalia chuckled, stepping out of the Beetle and shutting the door "You're still gonna call them that no matter how many times I tell you they're called Harpies, aren't you?"

I smirked "I call 'em how I see 'em."

Her smirk matched mine "Fine then 'In sore need of a haircut'; let's get back to Camp before the Psycho chicken ladies show up."

We ventured back through the trees in relative silence to camp, and I was left to listen to the subtle but varied sounds of the nature around us. It would've been peaceful if I wasn't already hatching a plan to break every rule I'd been told thus far. No, I wasn't _breaking_ them, I just hadn't been told of any consequences if I didn't _adhere_ to them, so I wasn't so much breaking them as I was bending them into figures of eight.

"Stop a second," Thalia said as we reached the crest of the hill, Long Island Sound's bay glimmering in the moonlight despite the frigid fog and air.

"What's up?" I asked, confused at her suddenly halting us. I swore to any of the gods I actually knew the names of if she was gonna turn us around because she dropped something in my car there would be Hell to pay.

Thalia's eyes seemed brighter in the contrasting darkness around us, as her gaze flickered towards the pine tree and then back to me "Ichigo, if I-." I cut her off by striding past her. As quickly as her mind caught up to the situation she turned, jogging the distance to catch up before grabbing my arm "I need you to listen, if I or any of us-." I turned to her, which was more than I'd done since that train of thought started in her mind and left her mouth.

"Shut up." I stated.

Thalia's expression turned to surprise and I spoke again "Sounds like I have more faith in your abilities than you do if I'm honest. I still owe you answers so if you want them you'll have to come back. Bianca still has her brother, whether she leaves him or not, so she'll have to come back for him. Grover is Percy's best friend so he'll have to come back. Nightshade still leads the Hunters so she'll have to come back." My words halted for a second when I realised I couldn't exactly cover all the ones on the quest "If that other Hunter wants to threaten any more campers with basketballs she'll have to come back."

Thalia smiled at me "Optimism doesn't suit you," she jabbed.

"Too much smiling and people will start thinking that punk stereotype you dress to doesn't suit you." I replied.

"While this is definitely fun we've probably got only a few minutes before the Harpies come out," Thalia stated before her gaze away from her watch and back to me "So I guess I'll see you in a few days or something like that." She turned on her heel and walked back towards the cabins, turning once to say "Stop smiling, the universe will probably implode if you start holding more than two expressions regularly."

I raised a hand to wave at her retreating form "See you later then."

Unfortunately my definition of later was much shorter than hers would be.

* * *

 **A Protector Until The End**

* * *

I was not, nor had I ever been, a morning person. The only reprieve I had was that I hadn't woken up instinctually trying to throttle in retaliation to whatever non-existent attack from my father I'd expected.

In hindsight I'm pretty sure my luck ended there, because of course it wouldn't be as simple as leaving the Big House through the front door without raising suspicion as I'd wanted to. Whatever possessions I had within the camp had been roughly jammed into a camp backpack (a ridiculously priced one from the camp store with the initials 'CHB' stitched into the black material. I'd crept a third of the way down the stairs before the voices reached me, prevalent among them those belonging to Chiron and Nightshade (or most likely the first person most likely to reprimand me for what I was about to do accompanied by the second most likely to kill me for it). Unfortunately there was no way to get to the front door and exit the Big House without crossing past the lounge, where the voices emanated in the direction of.

So I did the nest most logical thing, I jumped out the window of the room I'd been staying in, landing roughly on the grass next to the house. I ignored the blunt shock to my legs, realising why it was always advised to crouch when landing, before heading towards the arena. The biggest flaw in my plan was that it relied on getting to the training area first to retrieve a new weapon after vaporising my previous one.

Sadly, that wasn't the end of my attempts at remaining undetected that went sideways. I realised life was so much easier when you were trying to sneak around enemies you could take down instead of trying to sneak around allies, which in itself was a realisation that came when I dove to the side around the arena after freezing when I saw one of the demon chickens and I must've trod on something because it perked up and turned my way as quickly as I could dive out of its sightline with a screech of "Dinner!" which attracted two of its cluck-assed siblings to hover (the weird creatures did not seem aerodynamic enough for actual flight) around the arena, trying to sniff out their non-existent meal.

There went any chances of me grabbing a weapon to go on a life threatening 'Quest'. It seemed I'd be following them on this quest as armed as I was when we first met at Westover, nothing more than my Fullbring and my experience.

With that objective crossed off my list, I made for the edge of Camp. At least nothing on the way there tried to kill me.

This led to me musing, as I crossed through the forest towards my car, how other teenagers would have thoughts of relief on getting good grades in school or getting their first real jobs where I instead was relieved that nothing had attempted to murder me by this point in the day.

They just had life easier than me I guess, though I doubt they'd see it the same way unless they knew all the crap I'd been put through.

When I reached the car I was quick to open the door and discard my backpack into the backseat, unsurprised at the grunt that came from the 'blanket' it landed on as I put the keys in the ignition, shutting the door with as much force as when I'd opened it. I'd seen the black van at the edge of the forest and it parked closer to the camp borders than the Beetle, so I doubted I'd have too long before they departed if they hadn't already so I'd have to be quick to get on their tail.

While the engine took its inconveniently long time to start I leaned back into my seat and turned to send a dry look at the backseat "Are you sure you want to come, Nico?" the blanket made a surprised noise and the ten year old popped up, looking extremely guilty or apologetic, like a toddler caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

The boy had wrapped himself up in layers befitting the cold, and without the blanket I could see he'd also thought to bring along his weapon and was wearing the armour from Capture the Flag under his coat. Under my gaze he responded "I know I shouldn't have come or I should've asked you first but the doors were unlocked and- "

"I said are you sure you want to come?" I responded, accompanied with a dry look. I figured if he shared the same impulsiveness Percy and Thalia had combined with his sister being his only family… well to be honest I'd expected to run into him earlier while I was crossing camp.

I wasn't going to deny his right to look out for his sister. Whether he was young or not his only family was leaving him on a quest where people could die so if he wanted to go I wasn't necessarily convincing him to do it, I just wasn't stopping him.

Nico looked surprised, like he hadn't expected me to let him come along… though under different circumstances I doubt I would've anyway, I just knew I'd trained him enough to look out for himself and it wasn't exactly like they were letting me join them on the quest anyway. Plus, this way around I'd still be looking out for Nico like I said I would… I just wouldn't be doing it within camp borders.

His surprise quickly fell away and he nodded eagerly. "Okay, but ground rules," I began (I'm not sure if I heard him groan or a voice inside myself groan at how adult I sounded saying this) "Stay close to me and do whatever I say. We're facing real danger here, not a game. I need you to promise me that, okay?" Don't think I wasn't taking this seriously, I knew what I was facing and how bad it could turn out in bringing Nico along, but from what I'd heard Percy had his first quest at twelve and Nico was just ten. As well as that there was just this gut feeling I had that agreed to let him come with me, and those instincts had saved my life before.

He nodded and I turned back towards the road "Well then strap in, we're in for a bumpy ride." Which was mostly due to the fact I had to get the car back onto open road, we'd have to go quickly to catch up to the van and because the busted old Beetle had a million and one problems that would leave me unsurprised if it turned into a moment from one of those kid's cartoons where the entire car falls apart and leaves the character skidding along the road in a chair.

Well, at least it wouldn't get boring.

* * *

 **That felt like a good cut off point, so next time we progress further through Titan's Curse. I'm not sure what people will think about Ichigo taking Nico along, but it's a little thing that might span to have greater effects later on in the story.**

 **The next chapter might take a while longer to be honest. I've neglected updating To Shatter Fate for too long so I want to at least get some of the next chapter done for that before coming back to this (yeah, I haven't even started writing the next chapter for that yet, sorry TSF readers).**

 **No guest reviews from that last chapter, so nothing for me to respond to on that point.**

 **Anyway, here's the update people have waited for, I hope you enjoyed it and I hope you'll be patient with me in the time it takes to bring you lovely people the next one.**

 **See ya next time :D**


	10. I Get a Melty-Sword-Stick

**So I know I said this update would take longer, but I've currently got more inspiration to write this than my other story right now so I figured I'd make a start on it, though in better news I've actually started writing the update to my other story and it only took me three months -_-**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or any of the writing gold created by Rick Riordan**

* * *

 **A Protector Until The End: Chapter 10: I Get a Melty-Sword-Stick**

* * *

Things went _swimmingly_ after Nico and I drove away from camp in pursuit of the van.

If you think I'm being honest, take a crash course in sarcasm and then come back. The van was definitely going at, if not faster than, the speed limit meaning I had to keep driving just to keep them in sight despite the protests of the Beetle.

Well, despite the protests of the Beetle and the almost palpable feeling of hatred for every driver I cut off or overtook in pursuit.

It was the most backhanded feeling of relief I'd ever felt when the Beetle finally sputtered to a stop down the street from a service station in Maryland, and thank whatever luck I had that the van had stopped there too.

"What are we going to do? If your car is broken we can't follow them." Nico questioned as we disembarked.

"First, we take a rest stop" I stated, gesturing to the same service station the van had stopped at. Then I moved my hand across to point at the van "Then we just have to hope it starts working again by the time we leave."

The normally energetic ten year old gave me a blank look "And if it doesn't?" he questioned as we set towards the service station, pulling the hood of my jacket over my head and gesturing for Nico to do the same.

"Then we improvise" I replied.

* * *

 **A Protector Until The End**

* * *

The service station was an incredibly welcome break considering neither Nico or I had eaten that morning and the adrenaline rush from racing through traffic to keep up with the van had dissipated into a gaping hole in my stomach.

I wasn't exactly sure it was a good idea to give the normally energetic ten year old caffeine, so I settled for a breakfast meal deal with a hot chocolate while I got some coffee coupled with a sandwich. Food somehow always tastes so much better when you haven't eaten in almost twenty-four hours.

As far as the plan of checking whether the Beetle was functioning before continuing our pursuit of the van, well… we didn't even get that far.

Surprisingly we managed to get through our meals before Thalia and the others left, but Nico had to take a bathroom break and I was left waiting with my second coffee. The problem started when we were trying to leave the rest stop (which I was trying to do in a hurry seeing as the others left a couple of minutes before), though it should've been more obvious to me that my friends (and those with them) would've been the centre of the onlookers from inside the station and outside.

It took a minute to get past the people blocking the view through the door, seeing as most of the booths where I could see out the window had found themselves taken up. Apparently this station was a lot more popular seeing how quickly the place filled up, though it could've just been morning commuters on the journey to work.

With protests from Nico along the lines of "What's happening?" and "I can't see!" I waded past the people most likely here for morning coffee (it _was_ good coffee) to see what people seemed so interested in watching. What I received was the sight of Zoe Nightshade arguing with a police officer.

"I'm sorry, miss. While your license states you are of legal age to be driving I'd like some other confirmation of age and you can be on your way." The officer sighed, clearly looking exhausted (whether with the conversation or his workload I'd never know). The man had bags under his eyes and the hunch of someone looking ready to drop into a three-day nap.

"And as I have stated, this license confirms I am of age to be driving this automobile!" Zoe ground out, looking blatantly frustrated while the others watched on from nearby.

"And the numerous calls about dangerous driving from a vehicle with that registration could either disagree with your ability to drive or whether you are of age to be driving it, if not both." The officer sighed again "Look, I'm sorry that you seem to be in a hurry to get somewhere but the law's the law and if you can't provide further evidence that you're of age to be driving this vehicle I can't begin to consider letting you drive." I wondered how long he'd been trying to get his point across to Zoe (and maybe that was what had caused most of his apparent exhausting).

Zoe looked beyond frustrated, and from what I'd heard maybe this was how much of a toll Artemis' (who I'd been confirmed was 'the goddess in chains' from the prophecy) capture was putting on her. Or she just liked to be infuriating with everyone for the hell of it.

Either way I'd already resolved in that there wasn't a way this could end well unless someone else (who had both a license and evidence of age, and actually _looked_ his age) stepped in first.

I pulled off my hood and stepped forward, Nico following when he finally realised there was an opening in the crowd. "I'm the driver," I stated.

That's my new record, I thought to myself. Two whole seconds before someone is sending me a death glare and looks ready to kill me.

Ignoring Nightshade's death glare, I focused on the questioning gaze of the officer "Really? That seems to disagree with the," he hesitated for a second (and I understood why) " _discussion_ I've been having with this young woman."

"Sorry," I replied, forcing all my quick thinking instincts that had been refined for battle to help me lie my way out of this as best I could "I'd been sleeping for a while. We've been driving a long way across the country so I let her drive while I took a break." I paused for a second, spotting holes in the story "Her license is real though, I think she's just inexperienced with driving the van." I pulled out my license "There's my license," I told him "If you need further proof of age I only live a short while away, I could run over and have a birth certificate for proof of age within…" I made a show of looking like I was thinking "an hour? Maybe two?"

The officer looked over my license, and I took those seconds to block out the glare from Nightshade and incredibly pointed look from Bianca, while I idly noted there were meant to be five people in their group, not four.

In the officer's exhaustion, he seemed to take a few seconds before my words actually registered with him "No, that won't be necessary" he stated "Everything seems in order, I'd just advise you be more careful about who's driving in future. Have a nice day" he finished with a smile, looking relieved to drag himself towards the service station we'd left to presumably grab one (or several) coffees to make up for his exhaustion. A wave of relief washed over me that he hadn't called my bluff, I wasn't sure I actually had a copy of my birth certificate in my apartment, and who knows how long it would take me to find it.

At the loss of anything of significance occurring, those who were watching from the station's windows or around the street dispersed to go on with their day, leaving me to deal with the visual knives sticking out of my chest.

Zoe took an aggressive step towards me "You dare follow us!" I'd hoped after the police officer I wouldn't have to continue battling through conversation to press forward, but alas it seemed life had other plans.

I shrugged, my hands casually at my sides to show her how little I cared that she was trying to scare me "Evidently, I'm only really good at doing what I'm told if it's what I want to do or I'm agreeing to it in fear. You and the Camp accomplished neither in telling me to stay there."

Zoe growled and her hand darted to her dagger but Thalia caught her wrist, sending me a completely unimpressed look.

Grover glanced between us "Then what are you doing here? Not that it's a bad thing you stopped us getting arrested and we haven't really talked since it was confirmed you aren't a ghost." I gave him a completely confused look "Ghosts freak me out? How else was I meant to explain you suddenly being not dead after Annabeth saw -." He cut himself off, putting a hand over his mouth. Thalia and Zoe both seemed to have stopped themselves to glance at the chattering Satyr as he sped up while talking out of nervousness, Grover definitely hadn't changed much.

I glanced at Nightshade, making sure to keep one eye pinned on her to avoid getting attacked "We're coming with you guys."

That had about the same effect I'd expected – Nightshade turned to glare at me in full force, Thalia was _also_ glaring, but Bianca voiced for both of them "You can't join us – The prophecy said only five of us would go, and people will die." Her eyes went from both of us to me solely "You shouldn't be bringing Nico into this."

"He didn't!" Nico spoke up, drawing gazes back to him "Like you said, people could die. What? and you're happy to go along with that chance?" Bianca was silenced by his sudden vocal-ness about the quest.

Before further argument could occur, I interjected "I didn't force him or ask him, he came to me."

Zoe interjected "I shall not allow it! You will not join us. Even if I did not detest even the notion of being in the company of a dishonourable pig such as yourself the prophecy stated only five would go, not six."

'Or seven' I thought to myself, my gaze darting to nearby where a figure invisible to the eye but clear to my senses stood.

"And I'm guessing going against prophecies or how many people they said should go is going to piss off some higher force?" I questioned.

"Something like that." Thalia replied coldly, looking away from me.

"No one has ever been foolish enough to go against the will of the Gods or their prophecies," Zoe continued.

"I've been called worse than foolish." I replied, unimpressed.

Zoe's face contorted with anger once again "Still you wish to go against our customs? You are an outsider, one that does not belong. Perhaps you would deserve the fate to come upon you should you join us!"

"And if I can save lives in the process then that's all the matters." I replied, watching expressions change in surprise "Apollo called me a 'Breaker of prophecies' like their rules didn't apply to me. If I can join this quest and me being here stops even one person from dying then it's worth it no matter what happens in the end." I stepped forward "I'm joining you no matter what you say, the question is whether I'm in that van or I'm following you down the freeway."

Zoe clenched her fists, but didn't reply. I turned to Bianca "I was at Westover that day looking for the two of you, and I still don't know why. You don't need to worry yourself over him, even if I can tell you will anyway. I'll protect him no matter what, I promise."

Slowly it seemed that each of them relented, grabbing whatever they had from the station and loading it into the van before entering. Thalia didn't say a word, just walked past me like I didn't exist before sitting in shotgun before Zoe roughly forced the keys into my hand, telling me we were 'journeying to Washington' and nothing else before climbing into the back of the van. Nico ran over to the Beetle to grab his bag and whatever I had in the car I'd scraped together for a bag of bare essentials before putting them into the back of the van and sitting awkwardly next to his sister.

It looked like I was in for an interesting sixty mile ride where the person in shotgun was giving me the silent treatment and Nightshade was in the back probably trying to glare a hole through my head.

Just brilliant.

* * *

 **A Protector Until The End**

* * *

 _Tap, Tap, Tap._

 _Pause._

 _Tap, Tap._

 _Disinterested glance over._

 _Tap…Tap, Tap… Tap, Tap, Tap… Tap._

Even if it started out almost seeming random, I'd gradually picked up the pattern Thalia had fallen into as she distractedly tapped, whether on her door, her window or the dashboard. The situation felt like being trapped in a slow cooker – eventually it'd reach boiling point and one of us would start talking.

And apparently I could handle the heat better than Thalia. She lasted in her pattern for about thirty-five minutes into the sixty mile drive to Washington before she spoke. "You've definitely gotten more stubborn with age." She surmised to herself.

I shrugged, keeping my eyes on the road "So I've been told."

"I don't want you here," she confessed angrily "Not after the last time you came with us. But I guess both then and now you just won't listen to me if you get the notion that you're the one people are trying to protect." I knew she'd be angry, I knew it the moment she'd told me they were leaving and the instant I decided I'd follow them.

It didn't take the bite out of her words, or the chord they struck within me.

It seems redundant to say I scowled at the reminder of those torturous months that her words evoked in me. "Maybe that's because of what people putting themselves at risk to protect me means!" I snapped "I hate being protected because it means people think I'm not strong enough to protect myself, and if I'm not strong enough to protect myself then how am I strong enough to protect anyone?" my pent up frustration at the subject spilled the words from my mouth before I'd realised what I was saying "It's not like you'd understand having the power to protect those you care about only to lose it and watch as you become just another face for everyone else to protect!"

The sound of banging from the back of the van interrupted me, accompanied by an irate voice "Slow down, fool! I shan't have you sabotage this quest through your reckless driving!" Nightshade made no indication they'd been listening to Thalia and I argue, but I didn't doubt they could hear it.

Thalia responded like Zoe had never interrupted "I don't understand?" she parroted "Maybe whatever happened to you that you haven't told me affected you but how am I supposed to understand because of exactly that reason?! Maybe you felt powerless but at least you were alive!" In hindsight I get the distinct feeling the only reason Thalia wasn't hitting or electrocuting me was because I was still driving.

I caught myself before I could continue arguing. I could clearly see the emotions crossing Thalia's face. Anger, hurt, sadness, the whole package of emotions built up from a shitty hand dealt by life.

Another ten minutes of silence and Thalia looked like she'd managed to school her emotions back into order. An order where anger was forefront and shown in sideways glares at me. I was practically driving on autopilot towards DC as I had my internal debate before I chose to speak again.

"What was it like?" I asked, fully noticing how calm I sounded despite the still present memories the argument had evoked.

From her position sitting facing almost sideways out the window with just enough of an angle to give me sideways glares she shifted to sit looking forward again but still didn't look at me, simply responding "What?"

I sighed, acknowledging this wasn't the best topic of conversation to broach while she was angry at me. I'd actually been acknowledged instead of outright ignored, so I continued "Dying."

She turned slightly to give me an incredulous look, followed by a glare and words that still held an angered edge "You tell me." She retorted, turning to look out the window once more.

"Like being stabbed through three times in the same instant and not even being able to comprehend the speed at which it happened. Like bleeding from a dozen sword wounds over my body, _feeling_ the blood draining out and slipping out of consciousness. Like having a hand pierce straight through your chest to leave a gaping hole." I replied. It felt strange, both that despite her anger I was telling her this and that I was choosing to confide in her what I'd never told another person.

I continued anyway "Like every time I'm standing on the edge of oblivion with something shoving me over the edge, but at the same time I have chains wrap around my ankles right as I'm about to fall in that drag me back."

Thalia had turned to me at the start of my apparent speech, and after almost a minute of silence she responded with a tone laced in disbelief, incapable of displaying the previous anger. "You – you aren't being metaphoric, are you?"

My body tensed in recollection. Of all the battles I fought somehow the injuries were always what I remembered best – fatal or near fatal wounds that seemed to imprint the memory into my being with a mark so I'd never forget them.

Yet that was always what I'd remembered most. The meagre marks were much more than that, more than a recollection of injuries. They were a recollection of victories and the joy they brought or devastating defeats that kept me going.

"The years since I turned fifteen probably put me at the best and worst I've ever been at in my entire life." I chuckled "It's weird thinking about it – the best parts of my life were spent getting attacked or attacking something or someone else."

Thalia's expression turned confused at my changing expressions before settling into a scowl with her arms crossed over her chest "You've gotten worse at answering questions too."

I smirked "Yeah, well I'm not taking my shirt off to prove I'm not lying."

Once more the conversation was interrupted from the sound of the van being abused "We are to stop soon!" Nightshade commanded.

"A direction would be helpful, or would you prefer if I stopped at the bottom of a lake?" I shouted back, watching Thalia smirk and giggle slightly at the suddenly palpable feeling of murderous intent from Zoe.

"Near the monument." Bianca voiced from the back of the van.

"And will you PLEASE stop ticking off the Hunter with all the pointy objects?! I've nearly been stabbed twice by you irritating her!" Grover bleeted. I completely blanked for a second, I'd almost forgotten Grover was there with how quiet he'd been the entire ride (though if what he said is to be believed he was scared by Zoe brandishing a knife looking contemplative about stabbing me the entire time).

We pulled up to the curb before disembarking. As Thalia and I made to exit the van I said "That conversation isn't over."

"And I'm still not entirely happy that you're here," she smirked "so did that conversation actually accomplish anything?"

Circling to the back of the van I was greeted by the sight of Zoe speaking to Bianca "Are all the supplies accounted for?" I had a distinct feeling she'd start looking significantly more irate the moment I spoke up, so I settled for silence as Nico handed me a backpack with some odds and ends from my car.

"Everything except the half-dozen arrows you snapped glaring at the front of the van." Bianca replied, giving me a pointed look.

Zoe continued as if that went unsaid "Good, then all the provisions are in order."

Nico interjected "Minus the fact Ichigo didn't grab another weapon after he eviscerated the last one," I gave him a totally blank look, feeling my eyebrows twitch. He shrugged with a slight smirk "What?" he questioned innocently "I thought it wasn't possible to kill monsters without the weapons they use at camp?" He seemed to completely miss the fact that the reminder of the previous day's capture the flag game renewed Zoe's glaring.

Thalia sighed in exasperation "Well I did plan on getting this back to you anyway." She rooted around one of the inside pockets of her jacket (which were surprisingly intact given the standard 'Torn to hell' state of her army jacket) before tossing a silver metal rod at me, about the length of my forearm.

I replied bluntly "Well a metal stick to fight monsters is probably more effective than running at it with a chair, so thanks I guess?" Thalia pinched the bridge of her nose and let out another exasperated sigh.

"It was yours back then," she stated "Annabeth gave it to me when she told me what happened -." Grover let out a sort of terror-filled 'eep!' before shoving his fist in his mouth. At the interruption Thalia turned to him in confusion "Why do you do that every time it gets brought up?" she questioned, her gaze holding a dangerous edge against the Satyr.

Grover tried to look casual despite sweating bullets through his obvious lie "No reason." Thalia scoffed and turned back to me "Either way, it's a magic weapon like mine or Seaweed Brain's pen."

I regarded the metal rod, which didn't feel out of place in my grip "Please tell me there's no 'On' switch or something stupid I have to say for it to change." I still needed to get Kisuke back for that stupid outfit back when he first trained me.

Thalia gave me a questioning look, seemingly filling the strange question away for later "Each magical item is different. You never really told me how it worked."

I shrugged, placing the rod so it was held by my belt "Well I'll just have to improvise until I figure that out."

Zoe wasted no time once I finished that statement "Good," she responded "This has delayed us enough. Where does the trail lead, Satyr?"

Grover didn't look at all affected that he was being addressed by what he was as opposed to by name, instead pointing towards the mall "The trail leads that way." Thalia nodded, and we set off.

We'd crossed maybe a hundred meters towards where Grover was pointing us before I felt his presence just prick slightly into my range. I'd seen the black Sedan a couple of times through the rear view mirrors in the van, but I'd simply dismissed it as someone else travelling from New York to Washington. Now, I had no such delusions.

Thorn had been tailing us, most likely the entire time. We were undoubtedly walking straight into a trap.

I slightly moved forward in the group, past Bianca detailing to her younger brother (despite his protests that I'd already had all the same lectures when we'd been following them) what he was to do should things get too dangerous. I reached the head of the group, where Grover was leading with Thalia and Zoe only a pace behind him (thankfully not making moves to try to talk to, or kill, each other).

I spotted our apparent destination ahead when Grover pointed to it, one of the landmarks I'd originally planned to visit when I missed Washington and ended up in Vegas. To me it only raised the question of what led Artemis into the Air and Space Museum though.

I pushed the distraction aside, keeping my voice low, in hopes that if he could hear us from the distance he'd kept that he wouldn't realise I was onto him. "We've got a tail." I stated.

Thalia gave me a completely puzzled look "What?" she questioned.

Zoe's eyes narrowed "If I am not mistaken that is the modern term used to say we've been followed. Another person you've dragged along to interrupt this quest?" she questioned impatiently. It'd probably help if she'd stop treating me like a complete distraction to the quest, but it'd be easier to not start an argument now.

Actually, it would be _much_ easier to start an argument now, but I had no intention of tipping Thorn off. "The Manticore from Westover," I stated "He's been tailing us in a Sedan, probably since we got out of Manhattan."

Zoe sent me a sideways glare, finally getting the point and lowering her voice "And you didn't think to notify us of this until now?!"

I scowled "Cool it, Nightshade. He's only just gotten in my sensory range, and even then it was for a second, probably an accidently misstep." She glowered at me but seemed to relent the point.

Thalia responded "So what do we do about him?"

I stopped talking to think. Back then Thorn had confirmed he was working for someone else, but he'd also confirmed at Westover that he wasn't good enough to take us out. If I understood anything from displays of how Aizen had treated his Espada, a failure like that wouldn't go without damage to whatever reputation he held – despite Artemis and her Hunters intervening he'd failed his objective, so it was unlikely he'd been sent to stop or kill us. He'd be a delay at best, yet he hadn't taken the initiative to attack, and if he wanted to ambush us the smarter option would've been to get here before us to set up said ambush in advance. That left only one considerable option.

"He's meeting someone, alerting them to our presence. That's the only option that makes sense where he'd get sent after us." I explained.

"Does that mean Luke is here too?" Thalia replied, a look of conflicting emotions displaying across her features.

"I don't know. What I do know is that Thorn was the one that took Annabeth," I prompted.

"And with the likelihood of events being connected that may also be where we find milady." Zoe responded.

I blanked "Yeah, that's what I was going for." I stated completely dishonestly. With Thorn's reappearance I saw a chance to honour my promise to Percy by finding out where he'd taken Annabeth, but if the current path I was on led that way anyway, all the better.

Speaking of Percy, I turned in the general direction of the still-invisible presence I felt, assuring that he was still following us. He was.

"Yet that plan still entails capturing that detestable creature to get what we seek. And what if he is little more than a pawn to his masters," he was, but that didn't mean he wouldn't have information "it could unnecessarily delay our quest. Or need I remind you we are still on a time limit?" Zoe continued.

I faltered, altering my makeshift plan "Then the rest of you keep following her trail. I'll get whatever I can from Thorn and meet back up with you."

Thalia turned on me "No way. I'm not leaving you. We don't know who it is he's meeting or how dangerous this could get." The defiance in her eyes said more than she'd ever be willing to about this.

Zoe scowled fiercely "You never could leave them. And if this trail leads to nothing? He is not part of the five, he can be left. You cannot, yet you would waste valuable time on what could be a fruitless endeavour?!" I was immensely surprised Thorn hadn't caught onto us by now, but the arguing had slowed our pace and Thorn seemed incredibly vigilant to stay out of my sensory range.

"And so what if I'm not willing to throw away someone important to me to be more powerful?!" Thalia shouted "At least I'm being true to myself!"

They both looked about ready to start throwing punches, so I chose to interject (AGAIN). "On that point, we're getting close to the Museum so it's now or never time. Thalia and I will grab Thorn and get what he knows and meet back with you in Air and Space. If it turns out that this delays us you can personally stick an arrow in my chest, or a dozen. I'm following my gut on this; this is a good course of action."

Zoe continued to scowl "And if it gets thy guts spilled you are out of my hair all the sooner."

I chose to take that as agreement, ignoring the rest of her statement. As we ascended the steps to the Air and Space Museum I felt Thorn skim the edge of my presence once more. He didn't seem like we'd alerted him, simply that he was in a hurry.

As soon as I was sure he'd moved so we were out of his field of vision I turned to follow him, Thalia following wordlessly. If anything we were incredibly lucky it was a cold winter morning and school wasn't in session, and that people weren't best interested in being around museums at this point in the morning. It made it a whole lot less problematic for any passers-by that could see us as quietly as possible try to catch up to Thorn, who seemed to distracted by whatever meeting he was heading to.

His apparent distress at being late left him wide open for my next move, and quicker than he could react or transform to start slinging spikes I had the metal rod held against his neck, gripped by both hands so I was effectively choking him.

He cough and tried to fight back, but I guess taking on a human appearance limited his physical strength, plus the rod seemed to be… burning him? (as well as severely limiting his oxygen supply).

Whatever the effect my new weapon seemed to be having, it added all the more incentive to listen to me when I released him. "I'm going to make this simple." I stated, and he tensed in recognition of my voice. "You're going to tell me where you took Annabeth, and you're gonna tell me who you're here to meet. Otherwise I guess it depends whose patience runs out first," I turned him slightly "mine or hers. Or do you have a preference who does the hitting?"

His apparent fear led way to complete compliance "I don't know where the girl was taken! I just delivered her to The General!"

"This 'General'" I responded "Is he the one you're meeting here?" I tightened my grip, the rod burning back into his neck.

"Yes!" he choked out "Inside the Museum of Natural History!" his accent was less understandable among his panic, but I barely understood what he was saying, if it wasn't already obvious the Museum was his location seeing as I'd grabbed him on the steps of said museum.

"I don't like this." Thalia stated "He's giving what he knows too easily." She levelled her gaze against me "It's a trap, it has to be."

Thorn choked "Ignorant girl!" I tightened my grip "You'd be just as quick to spill your guts if it meant this infernal stick would stop burning your being!"

Thalia looked ready to protest or just as quickly bring out her spear and destroy Thorn, but she met my gaze and I winked, trying to silently communicate for her to go along with it. I knew Thorn was lying – a normal human might've been that quick to answer but he was a monster, and as I'd been told they didn't really _die_ , they were just sent to Tartarus before reforming in the real world some time later. That, and Thorn was a truly terrible actor, his fearful expression minutely inching into a grin when he thought he wasn't being watched.

I released Thorn, shoving him forward "Well if you don't want this thing beating you to death I guess you're introducing us to this 'General' you speak so highly of." Thorn put on a fake show of reluctance, before walking ahead of us into the Museum, past the signs labelling it as closed for a private event.

I turned to Thalia "Time to walk into the lion's den."

"Are you sure about this?" she questioned, looking hesitant about what it was we could be walking into, which ironically sounded the same as what she'd feared would happen if I took on Thorn alone.

"As sure as I am about anything." I replied, following Thorn into the Museum, Thalia keeping pace with me. Thorn's rush to stay several paces ahead was a clear indicator that he didn't actually hold a high rank in the supposed army he was part of, or the entire army was filled with incompetent goons.

"That was… dark. What you did before," Thalia replied "I don't think I could ever picture you doing something like that back then."

"And before I remembered anything I couldn't picture you shooting lightning or charging at people with a gorgon shield." I supplied. "Having to fight for your life on a daily basis changes a person. What matters is that you don't lose yourself to it."

"I guess so." She responded. "From what I've seen you're pretty good at that part."

My thoughts darkened. Maybe I was, but I wouldn't fail to forget when I had lost myself, and that _monster_ brutally maimed and killed Ulquiorra.

"What's up with this thing, anyway?" I questioned, waving the metal rod "I didn't have this in that memory on the bridge, and I thought all the weapons you guys used were bronze?"

"The bridge was a couple of weeks after we left your home in Manhattan," she replied "I don't think we have the time now for me to tell you the full story of how you got it, but as far as what it's made of Chiron surmised it was some kind of enchanted silver he'd never seen before."

I fell silent after that, Thorn was leading us into a larger chamber of the Museum, and I felt an almost oppressive power emanating from it. I needed to figure out how to change this weapon, _NOW_.

Thorn led us to a set of doors, gesturing to a pair of normal-looking guards, though I was unsure whether they were normal humans or more monsters in disguise. Any intelligent person would've clearly recognised this as a trap and fled. I kept going, at least slightly assured if I was about to get us killed I was in good company (even if one of them was invisible).

Thorn gestured us through the doors, making a false face of fear – like he was still doing this because he was having his life threatened.

"You're late, Thorn." A voice rumbled from across the chamber, taking the Manticore's attention away from us.

He turned to look upwards, presumably at someone on a higher balcony to reply to the voice "Yes, General," Thalia and I stepped into the chamber, and I was completely unsurprised by the sounds of the doors slamming behind us, instead testing if forcing Reiatsu into the rod would transform it. No dice.

Thorn's hesitance led way to an arrogant, sickening grin as he spun towards us quickly, his form already shifting as he turned and leaped, unfaltering in the middle of his sentence. I raised the rod, hoping the stupid thing would get the point before this turned into a fight. "But I have brought you prison-." He was cut off. I'd charged forward into a frantic swing of the rod down towards him, and the metal seemed to… _liquefy_ , changing from a solid rod into a mass of silver fluid, before re-solidifying into a blade that bisected the Manticore an instant after he'd changed into his form, reducing him to dust that dissipated into the air.

Instinctually, I willed the arm-length silver blade to return to its previous form and it did, 'sheathed' back in my belt in a fluid motion that felt like flaring a long unused synapse towards an action that I could definitely state was once muscle memory.

In the second of silence that followed, I surveyed the room around us. Before us stood a dozen gray-skinned _men_ , and I used that term very loosely. Behind their standard, military-like clothing their grey skin was almost see-through, showing yellow bones underneath. The almost-men didn't move, didn't twitch and didn't even seem to breathe. The only other person on the bottom floor was a slightly unnerved looking man standing near them, no doubt unnerved by whatever his mind registered my destroying of Thorn as.

The second layer balcony around the room hosted more than the first. A dozen or so men, sharing a similar uniform to the man on the first floor with us and the men outside – a group? Probably tricked with the Mist or paid well enough to overlook anything they saw. Joining the dozen armed men where the highlighting figures of the room.

Two female-like figures that were practically identical flanked the others on each side, both with reptilian appearances and predatory eyes narrowed since we'd entered the room.

In the centre was undoubtedly the one Thorn had named as 'The General'. He definitely struck an imposing figure, given his build wasn't dissimilar of Kenpachi Zaraki, but I don't think Kenpachi would ever be caught dead in a suit. The similarities with the captain of Squad Eleven ended there. The main had slicked-back black hair and light brown skin, and it seemed he possessed neither the manic grin nor the bloodthirsty 'Attack first, ask questions never' attitude of the Kenpachi.

The figure next to him… his appearance immediately gave me an inkling of who he was, yet _I_ was the one who thought that I was looking at a ghost. His pale skin was only a few shades away from the same grey as the Not-Men in front of us, and the nasty scar across his lip looked relatively new from where I was standing. But the blue eyes the gleamed with an underlying anger was just as confirming as the ensuing conversation.

"Thalia?" the teen, definitely my age if not slightly older, questioned.

Thalia's tone was grim. "Luke." She stated.

"And Ichigo Kurosaki in tow," the rumbling voice of The General interrupted "I must say, while Thorn was most certainly _not_ the most competent monster in my army, he did well as a final act of bringing the two of you to me."

I gave The General my unwavering gaze, a way of telling him his stature or tone weren't going to make me fear him in the slightest.

Luke switched his gaze between The General and I, and all I could wonder was what had led my friend down this path, one that led to the betrayal of all that he'd once been passionate about defending. "There must be some mistake here." His tone was laced in disbelief "This," he gestured a hand to me "Can't be Ichigo Kurosaki. He died seven years ago."

The General dismissed him with a wave "And so did Thalia Grace. Her detestable father preserved her, but Ichigo? He was preserved by something much more impressive." He had an aura of confidence, like all of this would stay in the palm of his hand no matter what way it played out.

"Then how about you go ahead and enlighten me on how you're so convinced I'd ever be of any use to someone like you?" I interrupted.

The General sighed, an entertained smirk splayed on his face "Ah, the impudence of someone who would bow to no one. What I'm offering is the power to change the world itself? After all of the battles you fought you can't honestly tell me you haven't seen first-hand the futility of fighting a battle that will never end? If you were to join us you'd have whatever your greatest desire is granted."

My response was instantaneous "I'm thinking right now my greatest desire is to come up there and wipe the smirk of your face. But I'll settle for this; tell me where you took Annabeth and the Goddess, or things get ugly, fast."

He laughed "You show a lot of bravado for someone rendered as powerless as a mere _mortal_ , Heaven Piercer," he mocked.

"I'd still prefer to bet on me than some wannabe statue and someone that abandoned everyone who ever cared about him." I retorted, shifting my gaze to Luke to watch his contort with anger.

Given he'd only just been faced with the realisation I was alive and well, Luke was incredibly quick to react in an angered tone, laced in venom "And who are you to judge me?" he retorted, the anger contorting his ghostly-pale features. "Where were you while the rest of us mourned Thalia, trapped in that tree by her father? Where were you when we still had to fight for our lives?" his anger had driven his questions into shouted statements, like he was demanding to know every possible answer I could give to each of his questions.

That didn't stop my own anger, and my own doubts from rising at his next statement.

"If it weren't for you, she'd never have been trapped there in the first place! You were the one that slowed us down! If we'd never met you…" he trailed off, letting the statement hang.

I hung my head, not daring to look Thalia in the eyes. The same thoughts had been crossing my mind since I'd gotten the whole story of what happened, and I think I felt I _deserved_ to be blamed like Luke was doing.

"You can still join us, Thalia." Luke had quieted down to a normal volume, perhaps taking my silence as a victory for him. "Remember all those nights, when we cursed our fathers for the hands dealt to us in life because of them? We have the power to overthrow them, to rule how _we_ want to. In five days we can march on Olympus and remove them from their thrones. You can be the one that fulfils the Great Prophecy." I felt the human presences from the upper level filling down, moving to points throughout the edge of the room.

The General sighed in the background "If only it was that easy. We still need the Heaven Piercer, however." Luke made no response to The General's statement, but if the fact Luke had no idea I was still alive was any indication it seemed like these two had completely different plans.

No matter what was said next, we were surrounded, and they had guns.

"All you have to do is say yes." Luke had followed the soldiers down, and was standing in front of Thalia with his hand held out, less than a meter away from me.

"Please say yes," Luke's voice wavered "If you don't…" his voice faded off, and I wasn't sure if it was a threat or he was genuinely afraid of what would happen if she didn't join him.

"Abandon your fear." I spoke, ignoring those around me while I recalled the words I'd lived by "Move forward and never stop." They had guns, but their plans seemed to hinge on Thalia and me joining them, whether by choice or by force "Look back and you will age." But that meant they needed us _alive_. "Hesitate and…" the soldiers were normal humans, and inspection showed immensely lower Reiatsu than any other being in the room, and the Not-Men had moved around to flank them, standing closer than the soldiers currently were, forming an even tighter circle. Percy had edged around us, and was standing on the other side of Luke. I turned to Luke, glaring in full force not at him, but past him, trying to give a silent indication that it was do or die time before I adjusted my glare to Luke finished my mantra "You will die."

And then I slammed my fist into his jaw, and all hell broke loose.

* * *

… **..Damn. Writing an AN is a lot harder when I can't think of what to say because I finished writing this chapter a while ago and I'm partway into writing the next one.**

 **That being said – plot development (and a dick-move cliffhanger :P), getting into some of the better parts I think I've written so far. Other than that I have no idea what I want to say purely due to being out of practice in writing Author's Notes.**

 **Guest**

Do you think you'll give Ichigo his normal soul reaper powers back or the dual bladed powers?

 **I'm not telling anything. You're just gonna have to wait like everybody else.**

 **Review or PM with any questions you might have, especially seeing as I have no idea if there's anything I should be explaining in this AN.**

 **See ya next time :D**


	11. Notice of Discontinuation

I'd really like to be able to think of something witty or funny to say right now, but I really can't think of anything. So on to the greatly disappointing stuff.

A bit of background for you:

I started writing To Shatter Fate (started writing in general) after a day of total boredom and the sudden thought of "Why the hell not?" after being inspired by other Bleach and RWBY Crossovers I'd spent around a year being a fan of.

See, I had a thing for Bleach where I was a fan of Ichigo as a more relatable and human protagonist, so that's where my mind went as a good base character for interesting crossovers, not to mention similarities between Bleach and RWBY I could bend to my advantage.

This same habit for ideas crossing other stories with Bleach is what eventually happened after I'd blitzed through the Percy Jackson books and was halfway through Heroes of Olympus, leading to the birth of A Protector Until The End, another story born of a dry patch in writing To Shatter Fate and a thought of "Why the hell not?" upon realising I had little interest in any of the existing PJO-Bleach crossovers.

If I'm honest, I'm not sure I've much interest any more in continuing A Protector Until The End, and it's probably because my interest regarding books has moved on to other series and left me pondering why I started another story – I'm not saying I regret doing it, and I like the direction I was taking, I just have little inspiration to continue it.

Back to To Shatter Fate – it was my first story starting off on this site, and those of you that've read since the start will know I uploaded seven chapters in seven days – a sort of passionate, inspired feeling upon realising people existed that thought my writing was actually anything passable. This led to something I'd come to refer to as 'that thing we don't talk about' where I'd had a character present in the story and somewhat established who was then used as a disposable plot device in a shoddily written scene and when I realised what people thought I too realised it was dumb and took it down, declaring the story on hiatus – for all of two days. And then I was back with newfound inspiration and took it in a completely different direction – Ichigo would no longer regain memories of his original life as I'd planned, and other ideas came in and spanned off from it. Except, and in my honest opinion, this led to me creating an Ichigo who vaguely held semblances of what he was in Bleach, but with the occasional pointless extra power thrown in because I thought it sounded cool at the time – and after looking through Bleach and various analyses I realised I wasn't entirely happy with this.

Problem is by this point I'd found myself in the rut in which I currently remain – my life moves onwards through school and other such things and between life and school what free time I do find myself with I find myself uninspired to continue or thinking of things I might've done differently should I go back with what I know now.

So yes, after all the clichéd 'I don't want to be like other writers who just abruptly cancel their stories or stick them on indefinite hiatus' that's probably likely to happen. I'd love to say I'll get right on whatever I want to do next but that won't happen, because I'm unsure if I'd simply like to get myself out of this rut and continue, rewrite To Shatter Fate from the ground up, or discontinue it alongside A Protector Until The End and start something new altogether.

I am deeply sorry to all of you who've invested time in reading my stories and given your criticisms and support and I can only hope that, should I return to writing, that I do so with more commitment and something you can enjoy reading as much as I enjoy writing.

Thank you all, it's been a tremendous honour writing stories you've taken the time to read.

 **TL:DR – To Shatter Fate and A Protector Until The End should be considered as Discontinued/ Indefinite Hiatus. I may consider deleting them from the site altogether so as to not disappoint more people who take the time to read them. This update will go onto both stories.**

Endless apologies to you all.

See ya next time…?


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